“Kobe Bryant Is Michael Jordan, Just On Steroids”: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Ranks Lakers Legend Over LeBron James

The G.O.A.T. debate often starts with Michael Jordan and is quickly followed up by the mention of LeBron James. However, OKC star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander placed Kobe Bryant above The King. A video circulating online has SGA having a spirited debate with young fans. And the back-and-forth seemingly stemmed from two fans arguing about LBJ as the better player than The Black Mamba.

“Kobe Bryant is Michael Jordan, just on steroids… What’re you talking about? Kobe has five rings. What’s your argument? And I’m saying all around, Kobe Bryant.”

Shai: “Kobe is Micheal Jordan, just on steroids”

Kobe’s more influential than….. but we won’t talk about that ‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/ZsJCSi4Xjo

— (@arkaavs) September 16, 2024

At the end of the video, one of the two teens said, “It’s LeBron,” when discussing who was a better all-around player. However, Shai didn’t seem to flinch from his stance, supporting Bryant’s case more than Bron’s.

The Thunder star started by drawing parallels between Bryant and MJ. The only distinction he pointed out at the start was Bryant the ‘Steroids’ comment.

Now, Shai’s comment could be construed in various manners. But it is safe to assume he wanted to describe the fact that Bryant had to put the work in to achieve greatness whereas Jordan was gifted from the start.

He brought up the amount of rings as another point in the debate. The disparity in championship rings has always been one of the main arguing factors when talking about MJ vs LeBron in the G.O.A.T. debate. 

This prompted one of the fans to state they were talking about the best player whereas the other one said they were basing it on who was a better all-around player.

But did you all know that The Black Mamba used to study MJ and call him at various hours to learn from him, pick his moves, and get better at his craft

Kobe’s obsession with learning from the best

Bryant was a student of the game from the start. He was talented, no doubt. But it was his work ethic that made him stand out from the rest and he went from being categorized as one of the best to one of the all-time greats. 

Born on July 12, 1998, Shai may have seen all the MJ highlights but he grew up watching The Black Mamba. Moreover, his initial statement of Bryant being a juiced-up version of MJ might also be based on the fact that Kobe used to study Jordan’s moves.

As per NBA.com, Jordan talked about the times Bryant would call him at odd hours, just to learn and ask questions regarding his game.

“He used to call me, text me, 11:30 p.m., 2:30 a.m., 3:00 a.m., talking about post-up moves, footwork, the triangle (offense). At first, it was an aggravation, but then it turned into a certain passion. This kid had passion like you would never know.”

Over the years, Kobe and Jordan became great friends and Bryant referred to him as his elder brother. He learned a lot from the Bulls legend and became a living embodiment of certain aspects of Air Jordan.