When Phil Jackson came to Los Angeles, he didn’t just bring the triangle offense with him. He brought in some experienced veterans from the Bulls Dynasty, like John Salley, Horace Grant, and Ron Harper. For a fresh-faced Kobe Bryant, that was the jackpot. “That little Laker boy,” as the Bulls players called him in The Last Dance, took ‘Be Like Mike’ very seriously. One of their common teammates claimed that Bryant actually succeeded.

Ron Harper dropped by the Cousins podcast, where one of the titular cousins, Tracy McGrady, shared a strong off-court friendship and on-court rivalry with Kobe Bryant. So he wanted to hear how Harper would compare two of his best teammates, MJ and Kobe.

“Kobe Bryant is as about as close to MJ as you ever going to have like real close. Like a—A and B,” Harper stated, emphasizing that the two were virtually indistinguishable in their approach to the game.

Harper, who won three titles with Jordan in Chicago before joining Bryant for two more in Los Angeles, recalled being stunned by a young Kobe’s relentless curiosity. “When I first came here in 2000, and just to see this kid play… every day he talks about MJ and me. ‘What did MJ do? How—how MJ handle this?'” Sometimes the extreme enthusiasm made the veteran want to say, “Dude, relax, dude. Like, you okay? Like, you working.”

McGrady agreed, noting that the sentiment is universal among their peers. “That’s what Kobe was about. Like, you give him information. He wants all the information he can get on players that’ll make him better or players that he wants to get an advantage on.”

It’s worth noting that, despite their proximity to Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, both Harper and T-Mac have also been defensive about LeBron James’ legacy. But their perspective changes when Kobe Bryant is involved.

Ron Harper is consistent about LeBron James’ mindset

An often-forgotten piece of Jerry West lore is that he almost landed a second player out of high school a season after drafting Kobe Bryant. However, his attempt to get Tracy McGrady never manifested. He instead got several pieces from the Bulls dynasty to turn the Shaq & Kobe duo into a championship force.

For the ex-Bulls players, it felt like they were playing with the Black Cat again. And T-Mac didn’t need to be in LA to form a close friendship with Bryant. Both Harper and McGrady are fiercely defensive of Bryant’s legacy as much as they are of Jordan’s.

Both are also fans of LeBron James’ statistical dominance over the past 20 years. Yet Ohio native Harper, who took a cheeky shot at Bron’s parenting at the All-Star Weekend, maintains that James lacks the defensive prowess that made the Jordan-led ’90s NBA better. And T-Mac claims that if it came down to a 1-on-1 comparison without the stats, MJ would beat Bron.

If you mention Kobe Bryant to them, they’d say the Mamba Mentality is as superior as Jordan’s psychological warfare. For Harper, James has always been chasing Jordan’s ghost. But, “MJ wouldn’t give a shit about this BS. He never cared for the GOAT talk and anything else,” he said in 2025.

“LeBron is a great player,” said Harper, a year before he came on the Cousins pod. “And as far as that competitive build, I don’t know if he’s more competitive than MJ and Kobe are.” And not many would disagree with him.