It’s no secret that Kobe Bryant studied Michael Jordan while perfecting his own game. It’s not something Kobe denies and it’s something Jordan likes to remind us about.
Jordan and Kobe are two of the most compared players in basketball. Their style of play, killer instinct and dominance are very much similar. Jordan even joked previously that Kobe stole his moves. Now in Roland Lazenby’s new book, Michael Jordan: The Life, Jordan spoke about Kobe during an NBA predraft camp in 2008.
“But how many people lighted the path for me? That’s the evolution of basketball. There’s no way I could have played the way I played if I didn’t watch David Thompson and guys prior to me. There’s no way Kobe could have played the way he’s played without watching me play. So, you know, that’s the evolution of basketball. You cannot change that.”
Jordan went on to praise Kobe for putting in the work with the mental toughness to sustain a certain level of success in the NBA via Lazenby:
“So he’s not one that’s so different than me, but he is different than me. People just have to understand that, and realize that you may see a lot of similarities, but he’s definitely different.”
