The greatest basketball player of all-time, Michael Jordan, recently chimed into the debate between Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, saying he would take Bryant because he won five championships while James has only won three.
The debate has been ongoing for over a decade now, as Jordan passed the best player in the league torch to Bryant, who then passed it to James.
Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball also recently gave his opinion, and despite wearing the purple and gold, he respectfully chose his favorite player growing up, James, over Bryant, via Bleacher Report:
Mamba or The King?
Lonzo's going with the ???? pic.twitter.com/IC08rE33vE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 11, 2017
Ball agreed that Jordan had a point, saying that five championships is greater than three, and while he wanted to pick Bryant because he played for the Lakers, he had to go with James because he was Ball’s favorite player.
While James has accomplished a lot so far in his career, he still has a ways to go if he wants to catch up to some of the things Bryant accomplished in his tenure in Los Angeles.
In addition to the five championships, Bryant was named to 18 All-Star games, 15 All-NBA teams and 12 All-Defensive teams in his 20-year career.
James has been named to 13 All-Star games, 13 All-NBA teams and 6 All-Defensive teams in 14 seasons so far. He has Bryant’s number in MVP awards though, winning four compared to Bryant’s one.
Ball choosing James over Bryant may have been a subtle way to recruit his favorite player to join him in Los Angeles next summer, as James is set to hit free agency and the Lakers are a rumored destination.
James’ Cleveland Cavaliers were defeated by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals this past season, and Ball’s father, LaVar, recently told James that if he wants to win another championship he needs to come to the Lakers to play with his son.