NBA: Lakers Legend Says Rings Can't Measure Kobe Bryant And Michael Jordan's Greatness

A Los Angeles Lakers legend doesn’t want to measure the greatness of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan based on number of championship rings.

In the history of NBA, Bryant was considered the only player who successfully emulated Jordan’s game. However, Bryant never surpassed Jordan’s six NBA titles and retired with just five. Nevertheless, the two legends have already cemented their names as NBA all time greats.

Just recently, Bryant admitted to being “pissed off” for not winning “8 championships.” As expected, fans and experts somehow found a way to link the Lakers icon’s statement to Jordan. It was viewed to be a frustration on Bryant’s part for falling short in tying MJ’s NBA titles.

Robert Horry, a former Laker and a seven-time NBA champion weighed in on the matter and shut down the comparisons. In a recent interview with Elie Seckbach of EsNews, Horry emphasized that a player’s greatness shouldn’t be measured by the number of championship rings he earned.

“People are so stupid about it. They measure great players by how many championships they win,” Horry stated.

For Horry, evaluating an NBA player’s qualities by the titles he earned is “the stupidest thing” people are doing. He even noted that there are NBA greats who became legends without an NBA title.

“It’s the stupidest thing. It’s like saying Karl Malone and Charles Barkley and Patrick (Ewing) are not great players,” Horry added.

As for the Bryant’s statement about not winning the number of titles he wanted, Horry believes that it was only “Kobe’s opinion.” Being a seven-time champion, Horry suggested that no matter what Bryant said, people should stop comparing Bryant to Jordan or any player who had more or less championships.

“That’s like me saying I’m the greatest basketball player ever,” Horry pointed out.

A few days ago, Bryant also addressed the never-ending comparisons to Jordan. According to the five-time champ, he and Jordan are completely different especially in terms of “competitiveness.”

As per “Black Mamba,” MJ would compete on anything while he smartly chooses his battles and only compete on things he’s good at.

“It’s fun, we’re really different. He’s crazy, he’ll compete at anything. He’ll compete with any and everything, I won’t. I’ll only compete with things I’m good at,” Bryant said about Jordan.

Bryant also revealed that as he whenever he gets a chance to spend time with the GOAT, Jordan would all of a tell him ‘my ’91 against your ’03? I would’ve destroyed you.’