For years and to this very day, it is still one of the most widely-used comparisons in sports history: Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant and Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan. Nowadays, the debate is focused more on Cleveland Cavaliers star forward LeBron James and his comparison to Jordan.

In an article written today by Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was interviewed during the team's Monday shootaround and thinks the Bryant and Jordan comparisons are entirely more realistic than James and Jordan.

“Kobe is the closest thing to Michael,” Kerr said. “Everybody’s been compared to Michael. LeBron has been compared to Michael. I don’t think LeBron is like Michael at all. I think he’s a very different player, a different mentality, mindset. Kobe has the same mindset and mentality that MJ had. The assassin, the ‘I’m-going-to-rip-your-throat-out-with-my-scoring.’ The low-post dominant fade-away jumper.

Bryant will have both his No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys retired to the Staples Center rafters on Monday night when the Lakers host the Warriors. When asked about who would win a one-on-one matchup between Bryant and Jordan in their primes, Kerr pondered over the idea.

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“It’d be fun to watch,” Kerr said. “Very similar games. Kobe shot a lot more threes, but in Michael’s era, threes weren’t as big a part of things. I’m sure he’d work a lot harder on his threes if he played in the modern era. (Bryant) was so similar in terms of the footwork, the reverse pivot, and I’m sure he got a lot of that by watching Michael.”

Letourneau also posted a video to his Twitter account on Monday afternoon of coach Kerr discussing Bryant and Jordan, which can be viewed below:

As the NBA's third-most leading scorer in history, Bryant's 33,643 career points are one spot ahead of Jordan's 32,292 points. However, Jordan's six championship rings in a span of eight years with the Bulls edge Bryant's five titles with the Lakers.