Who shot better between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant? Doing a statistical deep dive into 2 NBA legends' shooting numbers

Kobe Bryant was the closest thing NBA fans ever got to see someone replicating Michael Jordan. The two guards were made from a similar competitive spirit and were known for their ability to will their teams to victory. Fans were also fortunate that there was some crossover in the two stars' careers and that they faced off against each other on a handful of occasions.

Of course, Bryant was at the start of his career, while Jordan was nearing his end. As such, we never got to see the two stars facing off in their prime when both of them were elite shotmakers. So, we need to look at their shooting numbers to determine which player was the better scorer.

Unfortunately, Jordan played before advanced shot tracking came into effect, so we can't look at things from a section-by-section viewpoint. Instead, we will focus on multi-level scoring to see which player was truly a better "bucket-getter."

2-point range

Michael Jordan has a slight advantage with 2-point scoring. The superstar guard shot 51.0% from 2-point range in his career, making 11,611 of his 22,759 shot attempts. Kobe Bryant shot 47.9% from 2-point range, taking 20,654 shot attempts and hitting 9,829 of them.

3-point range

Neither Jordan nor Bryant were in the NBA when the 3-point revolution was taken to the next level, and it shows in their total attempted shots. During his career, Jordan fired up 1,778 3-pointers, hitting 581 of them, giving him a 32.7% success rate from deep.

Bryant took 5,546 shots from beyond the arc, scoring 1,827 of them, giving him a 32.9% success rate. As such, Bryant takes a very marginal win over Jordan in 3-point shooting.

Free-throw

Bryant was a career 83.7% free-throw shooter, taking 10,011 shots from the line in his career, knocking down 8,378 of them. Jordan is 0.2% behind Bryant in this area, shooting 83.5% from the line in his career, taking 8,772 charity-stripe attempts and hitting 7,327 of them.

Both Bryant and Jordan were neck and neck in scoring, with Jordan taking a slight edge due to his 2-point field-goal percentage throughout his career.

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Exploring the matchups between Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan

Every time Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan faced off, it felt like a passing of the torch from one relentless competitor to the next. In total, the pair played against each other on eight occasions.

The first contest came in 1996, when the Chicago Bulls defeated the LA Lakers 129-123 on Dec. 7. Jordan dropped 30 points in that game, whereas a young Bryant scored just five.

The next contest came just two months later, with the Lakers securing a win and Bryant once again dropping five points in the Feb. 5 game in 1997. On Dec. 17, 1997, Chicago got its revenge by securing another win, giving Jordan a 2-1 advantage over Bryant.

That advantage was short-lived, though. The Lakers secured a Feb. 1, 1998, victory over Jordan and the Bulls; Bryant had 20 points. The matchup between the two stars was tied at 2-2.

The Lakers won the next two meetings between the two franchises, giving Bryant a 4-2 lead over Jordan, with both games occurring while Jordan was with the Washington Wizards.

The pair faced off two more times, once on Nov. 8, 2002, where the Wizards defeated the Lakers, and another on March 28, 2002, where the Lakers secured the victory. As such, Bryant held a 5-3 winning record over Jordan.