Allen Iverson made waves, again, this week after the Pro Basketball Hall of Famer’s gave his latest take on the NBA’s never-ending debate over the greatest player of all-time.
Iverson, like many NBA legends, has hailed Michael Jordan as the GOAT on multiple occasions amid talks that LeBron James is the biggest threat to his crown. This week, the 76ers icon reiterated his stance during an interview with Rachel Nichols, while also casting his choice for MJ’s closest competition: the late, great Kobe Bryant.
“I’ve never seen nobody as competitive as him but Mike,” Iverson said of Bryant on Nichols’s Showtime series, Headliners. “Like, when people talk about your favorite players, or the best players in the world, I say Mike, and I say Kobe, you know what I mean? And then everybody else.”
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While his pick of Jordan is not surprising, AI’s touting of Bryant as the NBA’s No. 2 player of all-time may pique more than few fans’s collective curiosity, especially since he’s previously called James, the league’s leading scorer, “God’s gift to the basketball world.”
Given their extensive history, the respect between Iverson and Bryant will forever stand the test of time. And, in case anyone dare question that, Iverson confirmed as much when Nichols asked him as a follow-up if James is “after that.”
“Definitely, definitely after that,” he told Nichols.
Will Iverson alter his perspective down the line? Only time will tell, but for now, the legendary guard seems to rank Jordan and Bryant’s legacies higher, though James fans may blame that on the fact that the current Los Angeles Lakers superstar, now in Year 21, is still writing his story,
"I say Mike, and I say Kobe, and then everyone else." - Allen Iverson tells me on this week's Headliners that Kobe needs to be ranked right after Jordan in the "best ever" debate. Plus, we discuss time Kobe absolutely trashed a hotel room because AI had a better game than him 😲 pic.twitter.com/28j8N9KnV0
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) December 28, 2023
