Lamar Odom and Tracy McGrady revealed they have overheard Kobe Bryant speaking to himself, saying he’s better than Michael Jordan.
While speaking about Bryant, whom they refer to by his middle name “Bean,” on the AMP Sports Original Series, Cousins with Vince Carter & Tracy McGrady, Odom shared an anecdote about what he witnessed on the team bus after Kobe scored a game-winning bucket to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks.
Odom may be referring to a 2009 game against the Bucks where Bryant scored the game-winner as time expired in overtime.
“Lemme tell you something about this dude. He’s on a streak. He had, like, nine game-winners, walk-offs,” Odom said at the 29:41 mark. “On his ninth one, we’re in Milwaukee. You know how your adrenaline could still be pumping after the game? So, Derek Fisher sitting right there. He [Kobe] got the last seat in the back, and he’s talking to himself. This n**** is yelling. He’s murmuring to himself, ‘I’m better than Mike, I’m better than Mike.’ I said, ‘What, you bugging?’ But…if you know basketball, that’s where he was trying to go.”
McGrady disclosed that he has also heard Bryant say the same thing.
“Bro, I told this exact story when we were younger,” he added. “When I used to stay with him at his house, he was saying the same thing, and I’m looking at him, like, ‘Yo, you buggin’!’ At 19 years old, he was saying the exact same thing where I told this story.”
The docuseries The Last Dance captured a moment where Jordan spoke with his fellow Eastern Conference All-Stars about a then-19-year-old Bryant, prior to his first All-Star Game appearance in 1998. It’s clear that Kobe had already caught MJ’s attention.
In a 2019 interview with Valuetainment, Bryant recalled speaking with players on the Philadelphia 76ers about guarding Jordan while he was in high school, and hearing how much fear that MJ had instilled in them. Kobe vowed that when he faced Jordan in the NBA, they would “go at it” and he believes that mentality earned his respect.
“When we matched up, I think he understood that, and when I was 18, my first year, he got the best of me a bunch of times, I was right there the next play,” he said. “You’re not intimidating me. I’m not going anywhere. And I think he saw that level of respect ‘cause I think he was the same way at 18 years old, and that common bond is what I think where our connection was built.”
Following Bryant’s death in Jan. 2020, an emotional Jordan delivered a speech during the Lakers’ memorial service where briefly touched upon the comparisons, saying, “Everyone always wanted to talk about the comparisons between he and I, I just wanted to talk about Kobe.”
Over time, Jordan saw Kobe as his little brother because he understood that Bryant’s inquisitiveness and drive came from a place of love and admiration.
Finding out that Kobe was determined to be better than him, Jordan would not have wanted it any other way.