Just days after Kevin Durant surpassed Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring chart, the Chicago Bulls legend’s place in NBA lore came into question. A new list of ‘pure scorers’ surfaced on the internet, and Stephen Curry took the #1 honor. It did not take long for a 2010 NBA champion to come to the defense of His Airness with a staunch response.

“No way,” Metta Sandifort-Artest, aka Metta World Peace, wrote on X. “Jordan is the best scorer. Please stop. He averaged 28points rookie year. Rookie year. @Jumpman23 all day. Yall need to stop. 6 rings. 6 finals mvp’s. 9 Scoring titles. 9 scoring titles. 9. 9 scoring titles. That’s 9. Do you understand. 9 scoring titles. This will be the one accolade that will never reached. It’s the number one accolade outside of mvp. MJ. Please stop mentioning MJ. It’s not even the same conversation.”

The list that the Lakers champion was talking about was Bleacher Report’s Top 15 pure scorers of all time. Last year, they released a top-100 players list ranking Kobe Bryant 11th and Stephen Curry 10th, sparking backlash from netizens. This time, in a new list, they have ranked the Splash Brother higher than Michael Jordan.

For these pure scorers’ rankings, they have used different advanced analytical metrics. Points per 75 Possessions (minimum 10,000 minutes), Relative True Shooting Percentage (rTS%, the player’s true shooting percentage minus the league average of the time), and Free-Throw-Attempt Rate (FTAr). While describing Jordan at #3, the report began with “Michael Jordan might take this personally.” Although the Bulls legend never gets involved in any such debates, his fans do. Being known as a lockdown defender, Artest had his fair share of battles with Curry. And judging by Artest’s reaction, he was disappointed.

They acknowledged Jordan’s averages of 30 or more in eight seasons and his 10 scoring titles. Yet, according to their metrics, “Jordan’s production was often more about force than purity.” His PTS/75 of 30.3 was higher than Curry’s 26.7. But the other two metrics skewed in the Dubs legend’s favor. Jordan is 29th in the group in relative true shooting percentage. BR gave the nod to players who put up numbers without tons of free throws. Michael Jordan had 35.8 in comparison to Curry’s FTAr of 24.2.

In their argument, they added, “Curry has put together his seemingly impossible combination of scoring volume and efficiency with a huge diet of contested, way-too-deep-for-anyone-else or on-the-move threes, a handful of mid-range shots and far-better-than-you-realize finishing around the rim.”

Just like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant once again gets pushed further back

For the same reason that halted Michael Jordan’s race to the top, BR ranked Kobe Bryant 10th. In fact, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the OKC Thunder, who has 13,161 points, was at the No.6 spot. Actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. was tired of the narrative of disrespecting the Lakers legend. “N****s haaaaaaaate Kobe,” Ice Cube’s son tweeted.

BR stated that instead of using “pure” for Kobe Bryant, they would use “relentless” or “calculated” as descriptors for the 5x NBA champion. However, there was a consistency issue while stating this. Because some players ranked higher than the Black Mamba had more attempts at the charity stripe. #4 Joel Embiid FTAr: 54.7 (94th), #6 SGA FTAr: 41.8 (79th) and #8 Luka Doncic’s FTAr of 40.4 (71st) were higher than Kobe’s FTAr of 38.2

So, the metric used to push Michael Jordan below Stephen Curry was not considered in ranking Mamba. That’s why the Bleacher Report list isn’t sitting right with the majority of fans. Former Bulls star and Lakers legend comes to Jordan’s rescue as a new list crowned Stephen Curry as number one. At the end of the day, rankings may be dynamic, but for most fans, neither Michael Jordan nor Kobe Bryant needs validation from a list that fails to remain consistent.