Former teammate explains why Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan were so similar

When talking about the all-time greats, most basketball fans aren’t likely to talk about Tyronn Lue. However, the Los Angeles Clippers coach has always been surrounded by generational talents.

Lue’s NBA career as a player was far from remarkable but he had the privilege to share a locker room with both Michael Jordan (Washington Wizards) and Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers). Then, he coached LeBron James in the Cleveland Cavaliers.

If someone knows a thing or two about greatness and a superstars’ personality, that’s Tyronn Lue. That’s why he’s more capable than anybody to speak up on what made them stand out from the rest of the pack.

Tyronn Lue Explains What Made Kobe Bryant So Similar To Michael Jordan

So, when asked about his experience sharing being teammates with Jordan and Kobe, Lue had no choice but to tip his hat off to both of them and laud their incredible competitiveness and determination to always be better and demand greatness from their peers:

“Their will to win. I think just their competitive nature and their will to win and them just bringing it every single day in practice. They practiced hard than they played in the games most of the time. And like I said, I asked Kobe, sorry Tayshawn and Ron Harper asked him. Why are you going so hard in practice? They said, well, practice is harder because if I practice hard, then the games are easier,” Lue started.

“So that was their approach, especially MJs when I played with him at 40, 41 years old. Never wanted to take days off from practice, even though Doug Collins tried to make him. But he would never do it and Kobe was the same way,” he concluded.

Both Jordan and Bryant were heavily criticized throughout their careers for the way they dealt with their peers. Some even claimed that other stars simply didn’t want to play with them. Well, they won a combined 11 NBA championships on 13 tries, so I believe their method worked out pretty well.