Horace Grant Picks His GOAT Between Michael Jordan And LeBron; Explains How MJ And Pippen Can Fix Their Relationship

Four-time NBA champion Horace Grant appeared on Stacey King's Gimme the Hot Sauce Podcast, where he asked for his pick in the GOAT debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Instead of sharing his opinion on the matter straight away, Grant had a question he wanted to ask.

"What's the ingredients of the GOAT?" Grant asked. "Is it rings? Is it being the best rebounder? Is it being the best assist or block shots? What is the GOAT? I mean, never losing in a Final or MVPs? I mean, I want to know what's the ingredients of a GOAT? Because if it's rings, it's Bill Russell.

"If it's defense, I mean, you can look at Bill Russell, you can look at Dikembe [Mutombo], you can look at Ben Wallace," Grant added.

Co-host Stacey King brought up Wilt Chamberlain as another candidate, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. King felt, though, that when you consider everything, this conversation comes down to Jordan, James, and Kobe Bryant.

King had Jordan at the top, followed by Bryant and James. Grant, who played with Jordan and Bryant, went with the same order when it came to that trio.

"If you have to pin me down to pick my GOAT, it would be MJ," Grant stated. "And all respect to LeBron and Kobe, and many other players that you can argue say, he is the GOAT.

"But I've seen Kobe Bryant when [Shaquille O'Neal] got in foul trouble," Grant continued. "I thought I was looking at Michael Jordan, how he took over the game and led us to victory many times when Shaq was on the bench with foul trouble, and what have you. But I would say MJ 1 and Kobe 1A for sure."

Grant brought up Bryant stepping up in Shaquille O'Neal's absence, and the greatest example of that came in Game 4 of the 2000 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Indiana Pacers. O'Neal fouled out with the Lakers leading 112-109 in overtime, and the team desperately needed someone to step up.

The then-21-year-old Bryant rose to the occasion, scoring six points the rest of the way to guide the Lakers to a 120-118 win. L.A. would go on to win the series in six games, and that was the young guard's first NBA championship.

Bryant would finish his career with five titles, two Finals MVPs, one MVP, and two scoring titles. The media tends not to include the Lakers icon in the GOAT debate, but a lot of former players like Grant do.

Dwyane Wade made it clear earlier this year that Bryant belongs in the top 3. He didn't elaborate on who else was in there, but it would likely have been Jordan and James.

Jordan won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles in his career. As for James, he has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, a scoring title, and an assists title. The GOAT debate usually revolves around these two, but, as stated earlier, former players think otherwise.

Horace Grant On What It Will Take For Michael Jordan And Scottie Pippen To Reconcile

Grant won three of his four NBA titles playing alongside Jordan and Scottie Pippen on the Chicago Bulls. His two former teammates aren't on good terms now, and in this episode, he was asked what it would take to fix that relationship.

"I think it's going to take the egos to put aside, the pride to put aside," Grant said. "Once that happened, that opened the doors up to communication... But MJ and Pip put the egos aside and the pride because we've done things in Chicago with the Bulls with that team that a lot of other professional team have never accomplished."

Pippen had once stated that he won't mend fences with Jordan and their former head coach Phil Jackson, because of their huge egos. The chances of the two stars ever being on good terms again seem slim. Jordan, in particular, is known for holding grudges, but Grant is still holding out hope.