Scottie Pippen is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, period. Also, Michael Jordan’s consigliere on the court think that he is actually the OG King James.
At the Nike Basketball Academy for prep stars the debate over who LeBron James’ game compares to came up, but Scottie’s name was left out in favor of the likes of Air Jordan and Magic Johnson.
Reports Cleveland.com:
The elated parents on the sideline viewing James playfully schooling the young kids prompted a debate as to whom James’ game compares to. The only two Hall-of-Famers mentioned and disputed were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
The debate went on for about 10 minutes. It’s an ongoing, years-old argument, but one Hall-of-Famer not mentioned above says people need to look beyond Jordan and Magic when breaking down James’ skill-set.
“I was LeBron James before LeBron James,” Bulls great Scottie Pippen told Northeast Ohio Media Group. “It’s not even close.”
Pippen will turn 50 in September, but he could easily pass for 35. It doesn’t seem like that long ago when he was a dominating force on both ends of the floor. At 6-7, he played some point-forward and would take the opposing team’s best perimeter player out of the game.
Playing alongside Jordan, arguably the greatest player to ever play the game, in many ways took away from Pippen’s greatness and often excludes him from the James discussion – even though Pippen and Jordan led the Bulls to six NBA titles.
“I’m no slouch, but when comparing LeBron’s game, I’m usually left out,” he said.
To Pippen’s credit, the small forward handled the rock like a point guard and filled up the stat sheet as much as LeBron James. However, King James is on a level of popularity much closer to Air Jordan.
Said Pippen, “They want to compare him to the greatest, whether it be Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson, but he’s more closer to myself. It’s natural for folks to say that, but if you look at how he plays the game and how I played the game, you’ll see more similarities with us.”
What do you think of Pippen’s claim? Let us know in the comments.
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