“I would kick your a**”: Kobe Bryant hilariously chronicles Michael Jordan’s competitiveness by claiming the ‘GOAT’ would pit his 1991 self against the Laker legend’s prime self

Kobe Bryant talks about Michael Jordan’s competitiveness as he talks about the Bulls legend pitting himself against Kobe, constantly. 

Michael Jordan’s competitive spirit has been well chronicled over the years. The 6x champ didn’t go 6-0 in the NBA Finals by being a snowflake and trying to please everybody around him. Regardless of whether or not he was dealing with a teammate or a friend; when Michael Jordan wanted to get something, he would stop at nothing to achieve his goal. 

This ranged from silly ping pong challenges with friends to winning a 6th championship in front of hundreds of millions of people watching all across the world. His dog-eat-dog mentality was well portrayed in last summer’s ‘The Last Dance’ and made perfect sense that the man who idolized Jordan, would take on extremely similar character traits to the Bulls legend. 

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Kobe Bryant was cut from the exact same cloth as his Airness and proved it all throughout his career. When it was all said and done, Kobe’s ‘Mamba Mentality’ rang through the halls of Staple Center and was adopted by a bevy of stars that dominate the game today such as Giannis, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, amongst others. 

Michael Jordan wanted to compete against Kobe Bryant in their primes. 

As seen in episode 5 of the Last Dance, Michael Jordan knew ‘that lil’ Laker boy’ was special. Kobe Bryant went at Jordan from the get-go and knowing the latter, he did not back down. It was clear the 2008 MVP was emulating the ‘GOAT’ while finding his place in the league.  

So, it makes sense that Mike would love to go up against him while they were both in their primes, as said by Kobe on his appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

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Michael Jordan’s prime extended across two decades and did face off against a young Kobe during the 1996-1998 seasons. When the Lakers legend would eventually enter his prime in the early 2000s, he would go up against a Michael Jordan that was close to retirement. 

It would be quite nearly impossible to gauge on who would win in a 1v1 situation between the two all-timers when both placed in their prime. The way they dominated the league during their prime years, the one who got the ball to start the game off would most probably win by a single point, in this hypothetical scenario.