Four-time NBA champ used to mess with Michael Jordan by claiming Kobe Bryant was better - "He would have given you 70"
Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan is widely considered to be not only the greatest player in NBA history but also the most competitive. The Bulls legend was known to take any slights against him very personally during his 15-year career. Since his retirement in 2003, Jordan has lightened up a bit. However, he still isn’t a fan of those who question his greatness, including his former teammates.
During an appearance on VladTV in 2020, four-time NBA champion John Salley spoke about how he used to mess with Jordan around 2005 or 2006. Salley did so by telling Jordan that then-LA Lakers superstar shooting guard Kobe Bryant was better than him. Bryant was around 27 years old and in the middle of his prime at the time, which irked the Bulls legend:
“You know, Michael and I have always had a great relationship and I always said (when asked), ‘Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan, whose the best?’ I was like, ‘Man, Kobe Bryant. I would say that,’” Salley said.
Salley then gave an example of how he would tell Jordan that Bryant was better. Salley joked that he told him that Bryant would have dropped 70 points on him if they played in the same era:
“When he was 27, he was killing it, dog. ‘He would have given you 70 (points).’ You know, just because I’m talking to the greatest,” Salley said.
Salley was then asked how Jordan responded when he told him that Bryant was better. He said that the Bulls legend told him that he was always looking to start something. However, it was always just lighthearted banter between the two of them:
“‘Oh Sal, here you go with this. You’re always starting something.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know, man, you can’t go left. The kid can go left. He can do this; his jump shot is better.’ You know, just to mess with Michael,” Salley said.
Salley then added that despite messing with Jordan, he knows that Bryant would not have become the player he did without Jordan’s influence:
“I would hate to see them both at 27 years old, but we couldn’t have because Kobe would not have become Kobe without a 27-year-old Michael Jordan,” Salley said.
“So, you can’t go back in time (because of the) butterfly effect. You go back in time, you destroy everything.”
Also read: Dennis Rodman says Michael Jordan getting frustrated was the reason the Bulls broke up in 1998 -"We Could've Won 4 in a Row"
John Salley on modern-day sports media
Later on in his interview, John Salley joked about how he likes to have fun with modern-day sports media. This is because he feels that it is all about trying to capture a controversial soundbite that will make headlines. So, according to Salley, he just tries to stir up controversy when he goes on sports talk shows and talks about all-time greats like Michael Jordan:
“Media is about soundbites,” Salley said.
“So, if I give you a soundbite on a sports show, you know if you get one sound bite, it’s five days of a show. But those soundbites, I got on Cowherd … and they said, ‘Well, whose your Top 5?’ and I mentioned my five, and (Jordan) wasn’t in it. The sound bite came, ‘John Salley doesn’t put Michael Jordan in his Top 5.’ No, I put him in my five when I was watching and wasn’t competing, that I watched.”
Salley then added that despite his playful relationship with Jordan, the Bulls legend knows that he would take him first in an all-time draft:
“I’m a huge Kobe fan, but I can talk to Michael like that, I can mess with him,” Salley said.
“He knows that inside I know I would pick him if we had to pick right now and he said, ‘Alright, start your team. Pick anybody you want.’ I’d be like, ‘MJ, Kobe.’ … That’s exactly the order it would go in.”
Also read: "Michael was tough" - Wizards coach once told story of Michael Jordan tormenting Kwame Brown, reducing him to tears and calling him 'flaming f****t'