Michael Jordan puts Kobe Bryant over LeBron James: ‘Five beats Three’

Michael Jordan believes that Kobe Bryant’s championship pedigree has to trump LeBron James in a comparison of who is better.

It is no secret that Kobe Bryant idolizes NBA legend Michael Jordan. Bryant, who has nearly identical measurables and played the same position as Jordan (6-foot-6, shooting guard) played his entire career with Jordan as a template. So Bryant probably smiled when he heard Jordan’s recent statements.

In a video by Bay Area HQ (via Ryne Nelson of Slam Online) Jordan is shown answering questions from camp attendees of his Flight School camp in Santa Barbara, California. The first question on the clip is whether Jordan would rank LeBron James over Kobe Bryant. Jordan answered with the word ‘no’ with emphasis.

"“Would I rank LeBron over Kobe in terms of best of all time? No.“There’s something about 5 that beats 3.“Now he may be better than that, but Kobe won five championships. LeBron won three.”"

Of course, that particular answer will divide basketball purists and the fan bases of Bryant and James. On one side, NBA championship rings and how Bryant remained loyal will be one side of the argument. On the other, individual accomplishments, stats and how James makes teams and individual teammates better will represent the other. It could be stated that Jordan naturally would side with Bryant, as he, too, has more rings than James. But to support James’ argument, he has bested Jordan in career averages in rebounds, assists, field goal and three point percentage. Jordan has the upper hand on James in free throw percentage, points and steals per game.

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But whichever way Jordan swayed would have garnered a headline. Maybe Jordan’s choice was more comfortable because he likes Bryant’s comparison to him. It’s a good chance we will never know.