Is there a current NBA Player that can be as big as MJ, Kobe and Lebron?

[Sunalmighty]

MJ still has a mystique to him that is unmatched. Blame the media for protecting him from criticism when he played and for overexaggerating his legacy in retirement. MJ is top 2 in my book. But the media has totally downgraded the greatness of Scottie Pippen to elevate Jordan.

Globally this U.S. media manipulation doesn't exist which is why Kobe is the most popular around the world. Especially in China where they don't give a fukk about America.

How and when did the media downgrade Scotties greatness? He is considered top 50 ALL-TIME, a hall of fame player and in every highlight with Chicago winning titles you see Scottie ... along with Paxson and Kerr hitting game winning shots. When Jordan was inducted he said Scottie was with me for all 6 titles. You cats are hilarious saying Scottie was downplayed by the media, but when Scottie says what he'll do in this era he gets laughed at

 

[Champ_KW]

They're both on MJ's level, fam. There isn't anything separating the GOATS skill-wise.

 

[Swagnificent]

Before kobe's death? yes. remember media never fully embraced kobe. media rigged kobe his top 5 all time status.

from commercial point of view bron sold more merchandise and shoes than kobe. that's a good indicator on who's more 'popular' because that's a factual evidence. in 2015 when kobe was still in the league bron's shoe generated $340mil. Kobe only did $105mil
LeBron James Tops NBA Shoe Sales at $340 Million for Nike

kobe's popular among hoopers like myself. hoopers respect kobe more than bron IMO cuz the style and grace kobe had. but popularity goes beyond basketball. Bron had broader appeal. and bron's 2010 decision got him to that love/hate status.

kobe also had that love/hate because of kobe was that guy who threatened loyal jordan fan base. also rape allegation 2003 also hurt kobe domestically among women.

in any top athlete ranking i always saw bron ahead of kobe. this was 2016 global ranking by ESPN.
Who's the most famous athlete in the world?

kobe was behind Bron. he was even behind KD.

the whole ranking is a joke, but you get my point. IMO only american athlete who belonged in the world top 10 list was Tiger. IMO Bron or any other american athlete doesn't move the global needle. Yes, china is an anomaly. but china is just 1 country. For ex. nobody knows Kobe in Korea except die hard hoopers.


BUT



Now that Kobe passed away. things are very very different now. Kobe is in the immortal status now.

I would be very suspicious of anything ESPN or the mainstream American media post about global opinion. The media isn't trying to educate. They are trying to manipulate.

With regard to Kobe's global popularity, its very simple. Most of the world's population is in Asia. Its also a very basketball crazed area (especially China and the Phillipines). Europe doesn't care that much about basketball. Same with South America. We don't have much data on Africa when it comes to following basketball. And in Asia Kobe is by far the most popular. I showed a link from an article earlier where it said news of Kobe's death got 2.4 billion views on China's version of Twitter.

Simple deductive reasoning should tell you Kobe is by far the most popular basketball player on earth. He is beloved by the largest demographic on earth (Chinese) in the most basketball crazed country on earth (China). The ESPN article you cited is nothing more than typical U.S. media propoganda.

 

[Swagnificent]

How and when did the media downgrade Scotties greatness? He is considered top 50 ALL-TIME, a hall of fame player and in every highlight with Chicago winning titles you see Scottie ... along with Paxson and Kerr hitting game winning shots. When Jordan was inducted he said Scottie was with me for all 6 titles. You cats are hilarious saying Scottie was downplayed by the media, but when Scottie says what he'll do in this era he gets laughed at

Go back and watch Bulls games from the 95-98 era. Commentators would regularly call Pippen the second best player in the NBA after Jordan. How often do we hear that about Pippen right now? How many think he's on the same level as Hakeem historically? Or even David Robinson?

Just saying Pippen is a Top 50 player all-time is disparging. He's in my Top 10 all-time. And should be AT WORST in everyone's Top 20. But how many people are gonna put him in their Top 20? I'm guessing not a lot.

For Jordan's legacy to rise after retirement, the media had to diminish Pippen's legacy. When in reality Jordan and Pippen were a dynamic duo closer to Shaq/Kobe and Kareem/Magic than they were a GOAT/sidekick duo that the media paints today.

 

[YoungMoneyCashMoneyBoy]

Go back and watch Bulls games from the 95-98 era. Commentators would regularly call Pippen the second best player in the NBA after Jordan. How often do we hear that about Pippen right now? How many think he's on the same level as Hakeem historically? Or even David Robinson?

Just saying Pippen is a Top 50 player all-time is disparging. He's in my Top 10 all-time. And should be AT WORST in everyone's Top 20. But how many people are gonna put him in their Top 20? I'm guessing not a lot.

For Jordan's legacy to rise after retirement, the media had to diminish Pippen's legacy. When in reality Jordan and Pippen were a dynamic duo closer to Shaq/Kobe and Kareem/Magic than they were a GOAT/sidekick duo that the media paints today.

Bruh, no they didn't. And if they regularly said it, post it.

Media didn't diminish shyt. Jordan's feats stand on his own and don't need a diminishment of pip to be raised. Youre a kobe stan and you and your buddies regularly post stats with kobe scoring 0.1 ppg more than shaq to show kobe carried shaq some playoff series. Pip never carried jordan in any series. Ever.

Kobe is your guy and leave it at that. No need to make up stories about pip to try to diminish MJ.

 

[ISO]

I think Bron is a step below MJ/Kobe level. does Bron really have obsessive fans overseas like the other two? Maybe I’m selling it short.

Hell yeah

LeBron is a step below no one popularity wise he’s right there at the top for athletes across all sports and spent most of his career on a small market team.

 

[Raw Lyrics]

They're both on MJ's level, fam. There isn't anything separating the GOATS skill-wise.

That may be true, but at their level the game is mental and that's where MJ separates himself from Kobe and especially LeBron.

And I love Kobe btw.


"One of the biggest differences between the two stars from my perspective was Michael's superior skills as a leader," Jackson writes. "Though at times he could be hard on his teammates, Michael was masterful at controlling the emotional climate of the team with the power of his presence." -Phil Jackson

Even Jordan said, there's very little separating the greats, talent-wise, and that what separated them was the mental aspect.

 

[Juven]

Joel embiid

 

[ISO]

Shaq has to be in the discussion popularity wise. He was huge and he did it all off the court. He is still making millions of his likeness and personality.

 

[10bandz]

Hell yeah

LeBron is a step below no one popularity wise he’s right there at the top for athletes across all sports and spent most of his career on a small market team.

did the 08 Olympics never happen

y’all stay in denial this nikka Kobe had CHINA on lock that alone mean Bron is a step below worldwide. And I don’t see how you could make a case for Europe or South America when them nikkas LOVE Kobe and identified with him through soccer.

I can a post a pic like that of Steph curry or Klay Thompson or KD. Every player goes overseas and has a crowd behind him breh

 

[Eastside Get The Money]

I will say the internet has made it weird. Lebron was the first High school athlete followed by ESPN. Kobe was one of the first HSer who made the transition into the nba (was the youngest player to ever play in the NBA at one point). And Mike was the first mega commercialized athlete.

Now everyone of these highschoolers has a brand. Multiple YouTube videos. Borderline shoe deals. Youd think I'd help the hype but itsi almost made it oversaturated. Its gonna be harder for a players actual brand to stand out in 2020.

This part. There is zero mystique left. People heard about the LeBron James kid and would go to the bar or have a watch party to see what he was about. Now a days people just watch a clip on IG. People had water cooler talk and couldn’t wait to get to school to take about Kobe’s 81. Now in real time you can just tweet about it. It’s a changed game

 

[10bandz]

Shaq has to be in the discussion popularity wise. He was huge and he did it all off the court. He is still making millions of his likeness and personality.

Shaq and Bron on the same tier 2 popularity level after Kobe/mj. Or you could say tier 1A and tier 1B whatever sounds better to you

I’m talking worldwide tho in the US they all about even at the top

 

[ISO]

did the 08 Olympics never happen

y’all stay in denial this nikka Kobe had CHINA on lock that alone mean Bron is a step below worldwide. And I don’t see how you could make a case for Europe or South America when them nikkas LOVE Kobe and identified with him through soccer.

Bro you making it a LeBron vs. Kobe thing. I prefer not to participate in those debates anymore.

In the ‘08 Olympics, Kobe was at his peak and LeBron was a 23 year old with 5 seasons under his belt.

U said LeBron was a step below Kobe and MJ overseas. He’s not. He was ranked #2 behind Kobe in 2016, meaning he’s right there with him. It was years his jersey outsold Kobe’s. LeBron will shut down Manila or Beijing right now if he chose to walk through.

Domestically in the U.S. for the past 10-15 years LeBron has been the most polarizing and most discussed athlete, had the highest rated games, sold the most jerseys, sold the most kicks. His high school hype is the largest ever. He would be even bigger if he was drafted by a large market like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. He was the Cleveland economy when he was there lol.

He ain’t below shyt

 

[Copy Ninja]

Those guys became huge because the networks and corporations backed them on top of them having the game.

Zion is gonna be pushed by the networks and same with Luka. Only time will tell if they have the game to bring it to that level.

 

[Sunalmighty]

Go back and watch Bulls games from the 95-98 era. Commentators would regularly call Pippen the second best player in the NBA after Jordan. How often do we hear that about Pippen right now? How many think he's on the same level as Hakeem historically? Or even David Robinson?

Just saying Pippen is a Top 50 player all-time is disparging. He's in my Top 10 all-time. And should be AT WORST in everyone's Top 20. But how many people are gonna put him in their Top 20? I'm guessing not a lot.

For Jordan's legacy to rise after retirement, the media had to diminish Pippen's legacy. When in reality Jordan and Pippen were a dynamic duo closer to Shaq/Kobe and Kareem/Magic than they were a GOAT/sidekick duo that the media paints today.

Entire post is TOTAL crap. And on Pippens legacy diminishing, you do realize how many players have come AFTER Pippen that folks think are better. Jordan's legacy rising had NOTHING to do with diminishing Pippen. Bob Knight told Chicago to draft him for a reason back in 84. If there's been an attempt to diminish anyone's legacy, it's the media trying to do that to Jordan and Kobe to benefit LeBron