‘I can’t put myself above’ – Michael Jordan profoundly explains why he isn’t better than Larry Bird or Magic Johnson

“By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.”

That’s the opening line from the NBA‘s official legends profile spotlighting the Chicago Bulls legend.

Jordan transcended basketball in the ’90sGetty

While it may be true, not even Jordan himself agrees.

In a moment of rare modesty, ‘His Airness’, renowned for his killer mentality and ruthless competitive edge, once admitted that he can’t put himself above any of his predecessors in the GOAT (greatest of all time) debate, especially Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. 

“I don’t put myself above them,” six-time NBA champion Jordan told SLAM in 2013.

“I think that we’re all on parallel ground here. You know, they educated me about a lot of things about the game, from a team standpoint. So, I can’t put myself above…I mean, people try to, but we played in different eras.”

Bird and Magic preceded Air Jordan’s unprecedented ascendancy, rejuvenating the once great rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s and, in turn, the league itself.

Their fierce rivalry — intense, but always respectful — was born in college during the 1979 national championship game between Bird’s Indiana State and Magic’s Michigan State, and lasted until Larry Legend retired in 1992.

For 10 years Bird and Magic dominated The Association.

‘The Hick from French Lick’ scooped up three championships, three MVPs and two Finals MVPs in the ‘80s.

Magic, a member of the ‘Showtime’ Lakers alongside NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, hoovered up five titles, three MVPs and three Finals MVPs during the same decade.

Larry Bird’s rivalry with Magic Johnson paved the way for the modern NBA to flourishGetty

Jordan benefited immensely from Bird and Magic’s impactGetty

But by 1988, the year he won his first MVP, a young shooting guard out of North Carolina had taken the league by storm.

Bird had already witnessed a 23-year-old MJ’s greatness first-hand in 1986 when the hungry young Chicago Bull dropped a playoff record 63 points on a pantheon of Boston legends and Hall of Famers in a first-round playoff series.

“God disguised as Michael Jordan” was Bird’s only explanation for Jordan’s otherworldly heroics.

Magic knew greatness when he saw it, too.

“There’s Michael Jordan and then there is the rest of us,” he famously once said.

‘Air Jordan’ – an unstoppable and undeniable force of nature – had well and truly arrived.

MJ was undeniably better than both Bird and Magic, but he always paid respect to those who paved the way before him.

Bird and Magic gave the NBA the star power it sorely lacked after the lows of the 1970s, and helped the league become a global enterprise.

Without their impact on the game, there’d be no Air Jordan.

Jordan became a cultural icon with his Air Jordan sneakers and Jordan BrandGetty

The Bulls icon greatly admired the pair for what they had done for the sport, and couldn’t put himself above, or below them, when asked.

Instead, MJ saw Bird and Magic as teachers, whom he had learned a great deal from.

His prime also never overlapped with theirs, which is why he was so reluctant to put himself above them.

“I had an opportunity to go against them in the peak of their careers while I was still young,” he said. 

“And I went against them when I was at the peak of mine, when they was on the other end. So, it was a passing of trends there, and we never had the opportunity to play against each other in peak years. You know, so it’s hard to say that I’m above them, by no means. I like to consider myself parallel to them,” he explained.

The Holy Trinity of NBA superstars eventually got to team up when Bird and Magic were on their way out and Jordan was the face of the league.

The trio suited up for Team USA at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, although co-captain Bird only played a bit part role.

Jordan and Magic, as well as Bird, won a gold medal together at the 1992 OlympicsGetty

The iconic ‘Dream Team’ captured a gold medal that summer and, perhaps more importantly, the hearts of basketball fans around the world.

Bird retired later that year, admitting to Johnson, “Magic, you know, you and I were then, and Michael Jordan is now.”

Jordan proved the Boston great correct, eclipsing anything Bird or Magic achieved.

No. 23 went a perfect 6-0 in NBA Finals to go along with six Finals MVPs.

He was also a five-time MVP, ten-time scoring champion, nine-time All-Defensive First Team member, ten-time All-NBA First Team selection and Defensive Player of the Year – a résumé unlikely to be seen again.

For some, all-time leading scorer LeBron James is now in the GOAT discussion.

But for the majority of fans, Jordan remains the greatest player to ever touch a basketball, even if he won’t admit it himself.