Another day, another GOAT discussion. While everyone has long dubbed LeBron as “King James” due to his phenomenal accomplishments at the highest level, former Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippen is not quite ready to mention James amongst living legends Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.
Pippen sat down with ESPN’s Cari Champion Wednesday afternoon and shared his opinion on the comparisons.
“I don’t think he’s [LeBron] surpassed Kobe [Bryant] at all, no,” Pippen said. “And I don’t think he [LeBron] should be compared to either of those players [Jordan or Bryant] because they play different positions.
“Kobe and Michael [Jordan] are both 2-guards. They’re both scorers. They’re mostly like a Kyrie [Irving]. They’re looking to score the basketball when it hits their hand. They’re not looking to make plays for anyone on the floor. They’re not looking to be a facilitator. That’s the role that LeBron plays because he’s such a dominant and powerful force, and he’s a great passer.”
While Pippen made the argument that a James-Jordan/Kobe comparison is like apples to oranges, he does feel the dominant forward is similar to Magic Johnson and himself when it comes to playmaking ability.
“I think he plays a lot more like Magic. A lot more like myself, how I played,” Pippen said. “Obviously he’s more dominant than both me and Magic because of the way that he plays the game—his physicality, his athleticism surpass Magic, as well as me.”
Flip the page to watch Scottie’s interview.