Many sports analysts shrugged off early comparisons of Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant with Chicago Bulls star and National Basketball Association icon Michael Jordan as lofty. Bryant's performance in recent years, however, has spurred pundits to take a closer look at the two superstars' career trajectories. While a true "who is better" comparison among prime athletes always is difficult, particularly when one of the two still has pages left to complete in his biography, a glance at the two players' stats shows that both clearly have cemented their place among the NBA all-time greats.
Jordan's Career
Michael Jordan's 15-season career in the NBA, which included two post-retirement comebacks, left behind a slate of records, many of which are still unbroken as of 2010. The NBA named him Most Valuable Player five times and the MVP of the NBA finals all six times the Chicago Bulls won the championship series with him on the team. When he retired in 2003, his career scoring average, spanning more than 1,000 games, was 30.1 points per game, which remains an NBA record. He achieved a record 10 NBA scoring titles, seven of which were consecutive, an achievement matched only by Wilt Chamberlain.
Bryant's Career
As Kobe Bryant began his 15th season in the NBA in 2010, he already had racked up five championships with the Lakers, just one shy of Jordan. Unlike Jordan, who spent three years at the University of North Carolina, Bryant joined the NBA straight from high school and thus hit a number of scoring milestones earlier than anyone else in NBA history. Besides Jordan and Chamberlain, Bryant is the only NBA player to have scored more than 60 points in multiple games. In a January 2006 game against the Toronto Raptors, Bryant scored 81 points, the highest single-game score achieved by any player besides Chamberlain. He also scored 225 points over a four-game span in 2007, just one point shy of Chamberlain's record.
On the Court
While Bryant's career points per game average as of 2010 stands about 5 points below Jordan's, he actually has outperformed Jordan in some scoring metrics. His career free-throw average, 0.838, is slightly above Jordan's career average of 0.835, and his career three-point average is 0.454, well above Jordan's 0.327. Career comparisons are difficult, however, because Bryant is only 32 years old as of 2010 and still potentially has several years left in the NBA. When Bryant won his fifth championship in 2010, he was 31. Jordan already was 34 when he hit that milestone. NBA coach Phil Jackson, who has coached both Jordan and Bryant, told Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise that the two are "comparable" players with "the same drive and determination."
Off the Court
Even as Bryant continues to shatter records and possibly match or surpass Jordan in championships, he's continued to have trouble in matching Jordan in popularity, according to Wise. Boosted by his skills, Jordan elevated his icon status with a seemingly easygoing style that made him a natural fit for numerous endorsement deals, including his Air Jordan sneaker line, Gatorade, Coca-Cola and even a feature film with Bugs Bunny. The more aloof Bryant, who has had his own share of endorsement deals, also has battled damaging media stories, including sexual assault charges in 2003 that ultimately were dropped.
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