Rich Paul reacted to the GOAT discussion by saying, "Bron's antlers are in platinum and Michael's could be in gold... Who was Mike supposed to be compared to, if he had to be compared to Mike? Former champion Kendrick Perkins promptly refuted the assertion when this specific clip from Gil' Arena was broadcast on ESPN's NBA Today. Following him, his colleague panellist Ohm Youngmisuk dug more into the remark and humiliated Paul live on television.
Youngmisuk started off partially agreeing to Paul’s take, where he said James was compared to MJ all the time. However, after that, he added how His Airness was also compared. He said, “Let’s not forget, when Michael was coming in to basically to make his legacy, he was following Magic and Bird.”