Shawn Kemp’s Brutally Honest Comparison Of LeBron James, Michael Jordan

Shawn Kemp is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. Because of his lasting legacy and impact on the game, he is uniquely qualified to assess players both past and present.

Throughout his career Kemp had repeated run-ins with Michael Jordan. If not for Jordan, in fact, Kemp would have been at least a one-time champion.

This week Kemp appeared on a podcast and offered his thoughts on the ongoing debate regarding who the true GOAT is between LeBron James and Jordan. This marks the second time he has done this – with the first time ending up being surprisingly controversial.

“I think LeBron is right up there,” Kemp said.

“I don’t think he’s the best and I don’t think he has to be the best. And I don’t think LeBron James should be compared with Michael Jordan either. I think LeBron should be compared with Magic Johnson. Whoever started that sh*t up got it totally wrong. LeBron is not no damn Michael Jordan, Kobe is more Michael Jordan.

“They wanted to make a story for the news or something I guess so they just throw a name out there. But I don’t see how you can really compare those two, he’s such a bigger, stronger person than Michael Jordan was, and a more forceful person. With LeBron, I don’t think he could have done that back when we played.”

“LeBron is not no damn Michael Jordan.. Kobe is more like Michael Jordan” -Shawn Kemp

Everybody knows that the Bron comparisons to Goat MJ are a contrived & forced media convo. Reign Man kept it 💯 and said what others have: Bron don’t compare to MJ; Bean does. pic.twitter.com/KukPOHqtXg

— Apex Jones (@ApexJones22) August 22, 2024

Whether Kemp is breaking down the LeBron-MJ debate or revealing the time he almost ended up with the Los Angeles Lakers, his stories never fail to be entertaining.

Kemp is an all-time great, and it’s wonderful that the current generation is exposed to him in any capacity.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.