Michael Jordan's instant reaction when Chicago Bulls teammates got into fight over who is the GOAT out of him and Kobe Bryant speaks volumes

Michael Jordan took a light-hearted approach in the aftermath of a brief fight between two of his former Chicago Bulls teammates when one of them suggested Kobe Bryant was the GOAT ahead of MJ.

Jordan, 62, has been retired for more than two decades but remains a worldwide cultural icon thanks to his career on the basketball court, much of which was spent with the Chicago Bulls.

He is a six-time NBA Champion, all of which he won with the Bulls, and was also crowned NBA Finals MVP on six occasions.

MJ was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player five times through his career with the Bulls and latterly the Washington Wizards.

Bryant meanwhile spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers in a career which lasted two decades and came to a conclusion in 2016.

Bryant won the NBA Championship five times, was twice the NBA Finals MVP, and was also the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2008.

Bryant died aged 41 along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others who tragically lost their lives in January 2020 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

MJ and Bryant are unquestionably among the NBA’s greatest ever players, but the debate once led to a fight in front of the former Bulls legend between two of his former team-mates.

Michael Jordan and a 19-year-old Kobe Bryant combine for almost 70 points in their first face off against each-other.

The beginning of an iconic mentorship. pic.twitter.com/hrrFjDQMuF

— JordanMuse (@JordanMuse_) April 5, 2025

John Salley played for the Bulls with Jordan in 1996, while Charles Oakley did so in the 1980s.

And Salley once found out at the Kentucky Derby what happens when he suggested to MJ that Bryant would have been better than him, with Oakley punching him out of nowhere at the suggestion and Jordan himself trying to make light of the situation in the immediate aftermath.

Speaking to Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay, Salley said: “Dave Chapelle walks up with Chris Tucker and he [Tucker] goes, ‘He’s [Salley] your man. Michael, right here, right here. One time, Michael or Kobe, which one?’

“And I looked at Michael, and [Charles] Oakley’s over here [right side], I don’t even see him put his glass down.

“I said, ‘Money [Jordan], at 27, young fella [Bryant] would give you the business.’ And Oakley came out of nowhere and knocked all air out of me. … You ever get punched and don’t see the punch coming? He hit me so hard, man.

“And Michael was like, ‘You know Sal crazy, he just messing with everybody.’

“I was trying to act like I was laughing, trying to find air. I was like, ‘Give me air!’ I’m glad there was no women understanding what we’re saying, just looked like boys playing.”