Former NBA center Kwame Brown compared the work ethics of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, saying both legends had a similar commitment to basketball but different lifestyles away from the court.
Brown explained that Jordan regularly participated in late-night activities, including gambling, drinking, and playing cards, while still maintaining an intense training schedule.
“Kobe cleaned up everything Michael got wrong. Like MJ is more of a regular guy. MJ will stay up all night. He’ll gamble. He’ll drink. He’ll play cards. He one of the guys. But he’ll have a turn-on switch that’s crazy. 6 o’clock in the morning, he in there getting it in to make up for what he did at night. He call it burning his candle on both ends. He would warn the rookies, if you can’t burn your candle on both ends, don’t come out. But if you can, then as long as you put the work in, it is what it is.”
According to Brown, Jordan was able to balance his social life with the demands of professional basketball, often training early in the morning regardless of how he spent the previous night.
Bryant, however, approached his career differently. Brown described the late Lakers star as consistently professional and focused on basketball without following Jordan’s off-court habits.
“But Kobe, he was a constant professional. That’s why most people pick AI over Kobe because they couldn’t relate. Kobe, he speaking French and he doing all kinds of things, but his work ethic was exactly like MJ, but just without the nightlife.”
