Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James are often compared to each other, but Charles Barkley believes one of them is very different from the other two. During an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Barkley pointed out how James differs from Jordan and Bryant.
“The three best players I’ve ever seen were Michael, Kobe, and LeBron,” Barkley said. “And I’ll tell you the difference in the three… Michael and Kobe are dangerous. They’ll kill your a**. LeBron’s a nice guy, and that’s not a knock. He’s still great, great, great, but he’s a nice guy. Michael and Kobe aren’t nice guys. They’re different.”
Barkley believes Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a nice guy like James and made it clear there is nothing wrong with that. Jordan and Bryant’s mentality just isn’t the kind you see often.
“But I always tell people the difference between Michael and Kobe, man, they are dangerous,” Barkley stated. “I mean, they really wanted to kill you and humiliate you.”
Barkley named NFL icon Tom Brady and MLB great Roger Clemens as players from other sports who had a similar mindset. The 62-year-old also admitted he certainly doesn’t have it.
“They gonna do whatever it takes to win,” Barkley added. “They ain’t worried about who like them and they ain’t worried about your feelings. And there’s nothing wrong with that. And everybody’s not built like that. I’m not even built like that. I think I’m a pseudo-tough guy. I want to win, but I’m just not like those guys.”
Jordan and Bryant were killers on the court who relished ripping the hearts out of their opponents and their fans. They’d step on your throat if you were down and finish the job. James doesn’t quite fit that bill, and that’s fine as such. It’s not like he hasn’t had any kind of success in his career.
James has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, a scoring title, and an assists title. He is generally viewed as the closest challenger to Jordan for the title of greatest player of all time, but Barkley is among the group that disagrees with that line of thinking. He ranks Jordan and Bryant over James.
“LeBron is amazing,” Barkley said. “What he’s done in the community is amazing. In fairness, I wouldn’t even put LeBron past Kobe, let’s get that out of the way. I want to be fair. The reason I put Michael up there, above those other guys. LeBron has stacked his teams, let’s be realistic.”
James has teamed up with stars at various points in his career, and Barkley isn’t a fan of that. The Hall of Famer criticized both him and Kevin Durant for forming superteams.
Barkley stated he will always be biased against James when comparing him to Jordan, as the latter didn’t join forces with stars. He applauded his former Olympic teammate for bouncing back after getting his a** kicked and knocking down the wall in front of him.
Barkley also believes that anyone who thinks James is the GOAT hasn’t seen Jordan in action. Barkley and Jordan aren’t friends anymore, but that hasn’t stopped the former from lavishing praise on the latter.
