Stephon Marbury delivered his take on the famous Michael Jordan or LeBron James debate, interjecting one of the late-great Kobe Bryant, into the conversation in a recent interview. On an episode of Scoop B Radio, host Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson asked Marbury for his take on who the NBA’s GOAT is and received an eye-opening response from Marbury, who believes the conversation should pivot to Kobe Bryant or LeBron James because Jordan has ascended into a league of his own.

“LeBron’s a great player. Don’t get me wrong. A great, great player. Unbelievable. Amazing. But better than Michael Jordan? – it’s not even the same. It’s just different. In fact, it needs no explanation or explaining because we can’t talk about Jordan’s game. It’s like we need to talk about what people are not,” Marbury said, per Robinson’s X, formerly known as Twitter, post.

“People wanna rank Jordan? Jordan shouldn’t even be ranked. It should be Kobe, then LeBron, and then you can pick guys after that. There’s just no comparison, man. It’s not the same. It’s just different worlds. Different mentalities. I don’t know why Jordan’s name is mentioned in the same conversation sometimes. I’ll clear that up real quick… there’s really no need to talk about that.”

Stephon Marbury believes Michael Jordan is unworldly compared to LeBron James

Mar 10, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) guards Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) on the court in the first half of the game at Staples Center.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

For many, Jordan’s impact on basketball, from a global marketing standpoint, is unparalleled. Couple that distinction, including the Air Jordan sneaker brand with two pairs of three consecutive championships between 1990-92 and 1996-98, and it's enough to earn the all-time GOAT label.

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For Marbury, it's enough to consider Jordan exempt from being compared to any other player.

“I mean, as the best player. Those guys, Kareem and Bill Russell – somebody had to give them the basketball to do what they do. Jordan got the ball and that was it. Those guys – Kareem, Bill Russell and Shaq…those are the type of guys that are different specimens on Earth that played the game. Jordan is not. Jordan is NOT from Earth. That’s different. He’s not the same.”

The debate between Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan will live on forever, and it will always be a difficult decision. But, Marbury sees Jordan in a class of his own.