NBA legend Charles Barkley has [said it before](https://ahnfiredigital.com/nba/chicago-bulls/charles-barkley-puts-lebron-behind-mike-and-kobe-because-hes-nice-while-jordan-and-bryant-were-mean/), and he’s saying it again: [Los Angeles Lakers](https://lakersdaily.com/) star LeBron James is a “nice guy.”
In explaining how James differs from fellow NBA greats Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, Barkley argued during a recent podcast appearance that Jordan and Bryant would “kill your a–” to win while James “had to learn to be competitive.”
> “First of all, they’re three of the greatest players ever,” Barkley said of James, Jordan and Bryant. “But LeBron’s a nice guy. Nobody ever said that s— about Michael and Kobe. Nobody ever said, ‘Man, that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, they’re nice guys.’ Nobody ever said that s—.
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> “Michael and Kobe, they were dangerous. They’d kill your a–. LeBron’s great, great, great, but he’s a nice guy. He had to learn to be competitive because the killer instinct, it’s not something — Michael is one of my best friends ever, and I got to know Kobe a little bit. They will kill you to win.
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> “LeBron, he wants to win. He wants to win. But LeBron, at the end of the day, is a really nice guy, so you can’t learn to be a natural-born killer, but you can learn to be like, ‘Hey, I want you to know I was throwing fists with you.'”
Barkley played in the 1980s and 1990s, an era which some people claim was more competitive and intense than today’s NBA.
He got an up-close look at Jordan’s career because the two of them entered the league in the same draft, and then both spent many years in the NBA. He also got to be in the league at the same time as Bryant for a few years before retiring from the NBA.
Barkley and James were never in the league at the same time, but James has assembled a long, dominant career that is still ongoing. While he may lack the “killer instinct” that Barkley saw in Jordan and Bryant, James is still a 21-time All-Star, four-time champion, four-time league MVP and the all-time leading scorer in league history.
Jordan and Bryant are often praised for the intensity they worked with, and as indicated, a common critique of today’s game is that players no longer operate with the same nastiness.
Jordan won six championships and five league MVP awards during his career while Bryant won five championships and one league MVP award.
James still has a chance to add another ring to his collection if he decides to continue playing, but it’s been five years now since his last title, and he certainly isn’t getting younger. One more ring would give him as many as Bryant, and two more would give him as many as Jordan.
Jordan and Bryant are already Hall of Famers, and one day, James will join them there. There is no doubt that the three of them are among the top players to ever suit up in the NBA, but without question, conversations comparing them will continue until the end of time.