For decades, people compared Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan. They had the same mindset, they played the same position, and even Jordan claimed that Kobe stole most of his moves. The resemblance was evident and spine-chilling.
Jordan won six rings; Kobe won five. One dominated the late 80s and 90s; the other ruled the early and mid-00s. Both were ruthless, merciless, and relentless competitors, always determined to one-up everybody else on the court.
But as much as Kobe wanted to be like Mike— and even better— he once admitted that he would never say he was better than His Airness, as Jordan taught him a lot in the early stages of his career.
Kobe Bryant Claimed He’d Never Say He Was Better Than Michael Jordan
“I will never say I am better than Michael. In all honesty, he taught me so many things, by observation, and also through conversation,” Kobe said in an interview. “It’s a bit of an unbalanced comparison too, because when he came to Chicago, he was able to do things individually that I didn’t have the freedom to do, coming to Los Angeles. I came in playing a support role for Shaquille, which was very hard for my personality to do. That would be like asking Michael to do the same thing. Our careers tracked on different paths, but I would never ever say that, just because I learned so much from him.”
Kobe Wasn’t Afraid Of Jordan
Jordan admitted that he often saw himself in Kobe, and not just in the court. That silent-killer attitude made them two of a kind. In fact, even before Kobe entered the league, he let some Sixers players know that he wasn’t afraid of the best player on Earth:
“I used to work out with the 76ers, I used to ask them, what’s it like to guard Mike? They were like, ‘Mike? You mean ‘Black Jesus?’ I’m like, ‘what the f–k? Black who?’ ‘We call him Black Jesus or you can call him Black Cat. ‘I’m gonna call him f–king Mike. That’s his f–king name,” Kobe said. “So the level of fear that he inspired in others was insane. And I would tell him, I said when I face him, we’re gonna go at it. ‘Sure, you don’t want to do that.’ I’m like, ‘what? Man, you don’t know me, man.”
That’s Kobe Bryant 101 right there, and he made sure to let Jordan know that he was going to get what was his as well. At the end of the day, Jordan was more of a friend than a mentor, and that’s just the beauty of this game.
