Who is the greatest basketball player of all time?

This debate makes as much sense as playing memory with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Warburg Bank employees (cum-ex tax fraud).

And yet it is discussed again and again.

There was a little less discussion these days because in the North American NBA the number of points per game suddenly exploded.

The Week in Review: Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland, 71 points.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee, 55 points.

Klay Thompson, Golden State, 54 points.

The great LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers, number two on the all-time NBA points list, made an underestimated contribution to the debate.

At 38, he scored 43 points in 40 minutes.

When his coach Darvin Ham later explained why he let James play so long again, he said: "He makes it possible because he takes such great care of himself and his body."

His self-discipline is what sets James apart from most players before him (partly because he has other options in modern sport).

And in the debate about the greatest of all time, his most important argument: It's not just the points you collect season after season that make a player the greatest, but the minutes you play season after season.

And who is the greatest soccer player of all time?

This debate makes as much sense as filing a tax return with Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

And yet it is discussed again and again.

There has been a bit more discussion these weeks because the great Messi became world champion and the great Pele died.

An overestimated contribution to the debate came from Cristiano Ronaldo, who from a sporting point of view is certainly no smaller than Messi or Pelé, but made himself smaller when he joined the Saudi Arabian club al-Nasr.

Now one should say at this point at the latest: It's annoying that sports reporters regularly accuse athletes of missing the right time to stop.

They should play where they want - even if they go to a relatively undemanding level.

But it's also annoying that athletes sugarcoat their undemanding decisions.

As did Ronaldo, who said of the move to Saudi Arabia: "The league is very competitive.

People don't know that, but I've watched a lot of games."

In view of the debate about the greatest of all time, one has to reply to him: It is not only important that he will now score his goals in Saudi Arabia, but also that he was no longer allowed to score them in England.