When asked who was a better player, Michael Jordan picked LA Lakers guard Kobe Bryant over Heat forward Lebron James. To this day, it's still all about championships for Michael Jordan. So he's going with Kobe Bryant over LeBron James in advance of that impending All-Star Weekend debate, at a time when some are going further and comparing James to Jordan himself.
Jordan picked Bryant over Lebron James at the moment
LeBron James changed his jersey number, won an NBA championship and still gets inevitably compared to Michael Jordan at nearly every opportunity. James wants no part of it, posting on Twitter that he’s "not MJ." And his peers say it’s time to back off all the comparisons.
Interviewed for a special that will run Monday at 8 p.m. on NBA TV, Jordan said he currently views Bryant as having the more successful career to this point than James.
LeBron wants no part in the argument
"If you had to pick between the two, that would be a tough choice," Jordan, now owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, told program host Ahmad Rashard, "but five beats one every time I look at it."
Bryant has won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, with James winning his first NBA title last June. Jordan, of course, won six championships with the Chicago Bulls.
"And not that he won't get five," Jordan said of James. "He may get more than that, but five is bigger than one."
"It’s simple. There will never be another Michael Jordan," said Miami Heat teammate Dwyane Wade, who grew up in Chicago watching Jordan’s games on WGN. "He was the first to do a lot of things. Whenever you’re the first, there can never be another.
"But you know what? That guy down there (James), he’s in the beginning of starting his own path. There will be someone who will be compared to the next LeBron James, but there will never be another one of him. Certain guys are that special and that unique."
