Lil Wayne is known for being a huge NBA fan, and the New Orleans rapper has now ranked three of the best players ever to pick up a basketball: LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
Appearing as a guest on a recent episode of Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All the Smoke podcast, Weezy was asked to choose between the three ballers as far as their on-the-court accomplishments go.
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After taking a minute to gather himself following a puff on a blunt, Lil Wayne reeled off: “Bron, Mike and Kobe.”
The response came as somewhat of a surprise to the co-hosts as Wayne explained that Bron’s longevity and statistical output at this stage of his career is too tough to ignore even with fewer championship rings than his counterparts.
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“Bron, I don’t know Bron personally so my answer for Bron would be from afar,” he began. “My answer for Bron is on the court. Bron, you gotta remember, I know for a fact I loved Jordan for the way he always won. As a kid, you don’t know too much about the ins and outs of the game.
“I got old enough to know how hard it is to fucking do it back-to-back-to-back. So that’s where he got his respect with me to and started getting his respect with me to where he’s the greatest. It’s very hard to do, and that n-gga Bron did that shit with three different teams.”
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Wayne continued: “That’s right there, that’s when regardless he ain’t got six, but he done it with three different teams. And not on one of those muthafuckin’ teams did he play role two. That right there is what tipped him over the Jordan scale for me.”
Check out Wayne’s comments below:
Lil Wayne has changed his tune compared to about a decade ago when he crowned Kobe Bryant the greatest ever.
“He’s inspired not only songs, but he’s inspired me in life in general just the way he attacks things, the way he never backs down, the way he fights through injury,” Wayne said in 2012. “I believe he’s the greatest player to touch a basketball.”
Weezy even named a track after Kobe Bryant in 2009 celebrating the five-time NBA champion’s greatness on the court — and he recently sported a Kobe jersey at an L.A show, which, unfortunately for fans, was cut short because Weezy wasn’t happy with the crowd’s energy.
Others in Hip Hop have chimed in on the Jordan versus LeBron debate in recent months such as Fat Joe — who is team Jordan — and Joe Budden, who is siding with King James.
“Every team LeBron beat is way better than all them teams that Jordan beat. Roll them all in a pack and smoke ’em,” Budden said. “All of them teams is trash, stop it. Utah twice, Karl Malone, stop it. The Sonics, stop it. Stop it, he beat up on fucking Dale Ellis and them. Shut the fuck up.”
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He added: “He don’t know what it’s like when some killers walk in the gym. ‘Oh shit, that’s Klay! Oh shit, that’s Steph! Draymond, oh shit! Durant there too. Oh shit, n-ggas just wilding over there.’ Stop it yo.”