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Kobe Bryant: Don't Compare Me To Michael Jordan At My Age

Kobe Bryant doesn't want to be compared to Michael Jordan at age 37.

Kobe Bryant doesn’t want to hear you compare him to Michael Jordan.

At least not at age 37.

In an interview with USA Today's Sam Amick, the Lakers guard shot down any comparisons between Jordan’s twilight years and his own, calling their respective paths “much, much different."

“This is uncharted territory,” he said. “My 37 (years old) isn’t MJ’s 37 (when he returned after taking two seasons off to play for the Washington Wizards), you know what I mean? Nor is it the same team or the same system that he was playing in. It’s much, much different. There’s really no barometer, no (precedent) for training physically, for recovery. It’s uncharted territory.”

Jordan returned at age 38 and averaged 21.5 points per game in his two seasons with the Wizards before calling it quits for good in 2003 when he was 40.

Bryant, coming off of two seasons mostly lost to injury, passed Jordan on the NBA’s all-time scoring list last season and now ranks third behind Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The 2015-2016 season will be Bryant’s 20th in the league. No player in NBA history has played more seasons with one team.

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