- Kobe Bryant grew up idolizing Michael Jordan and modeled his game after him
- It led to the two always being compared to each other, and Bryant initially appreciated it
- Over time though, he realized the comparisons didn’t work as their situations were completely different
Kobe Bryant went down as one of the greatest players ever, but for much of his storied career, he seemed to live in the shadow of Michael Jordan. Bryant had idolized Jordan when he was growing up and modeled his game after the Chicago Bulls icon.
Their similar playstyles and Bryant also copying some of Jordan’s mannerisms led to them being compared constantly. Kobe liked them initially, but as the years went by, he realized the comparison just didn’t work.
“I appreciated them, but after a while it just got old,” Bryant told ESPN. “They eventually faded away because I was putting together my own identity. But I’ll never forget how much I learned from MJ. I got so much from him. I knew what he did, I knew his moves and I used them.
“But for me the comparisons didn’t work because our situations were totally different,” Bryant continued. “I came straight out of high school and played with a dominant big in Shaquille. Man, I was so young when I got to the NBA. What was I, like, 17? I mean, 17! The more you think about it, my situation was completely different than MJ’s, so the comparisons were just, you know, I stopped paying attention to them.”
As Kobe says here, he wanted to put together his own identity and not just be someone who was compared to Jordan. Their situations were also quite different as he later stated. MJ played three seasons of college basketball and was the main man right away when he got to the league while Kobe came directly from high school and played second fiddle to Shaquille O’Neal for years.
Still, whether he paid attention to them or not, the comparisons raged on because they were just similar when it came to their games and mindset. A look at their head-to-head record shows Kobe won more games (5-3), but Jordan had the better stats.
When comparing their career highs, Jordan has a 5-3 edge, getting the better of Kobe when it came to rebounds, steals, blocks, free throws made, and turnovers.
An extensive career comparison between the two also has Jordan come out on top by a score of 5-3. Jordan won more titles, Finals MVPs, and MVPs while also having more career win shares and a higher career PER.
Kobe Bryant Was Annoyed By Michael Jordan Comparisons After His 81-Point Game
When talking about Kobe’s greatest moments in the league, his legendary 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006 always stands out. It might just have been his finest hour on an individual level in the NBA, but even after that special outing, Jordan’s name was brought up postgame and Kobe did not like it.
When a reporter told him even MJ didn’t have a game like this, Bryant stated these comparisons needed to stop. He made it clear that they are separate individuals and wished people would stop measuring up what he was doing to what Jordan had done in his career.
Unfortunately for Kobe, the comparisons never stopped and you certainly understand why, as their games were almost identical.
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