From the second he stepped into the Great Western Forum in 1996, Kobe has been compared to Michael Jordan.

It only seemed natural. The two superstars have similar physiques, similar games and now, a combined nine titles between them.

With the progression of Kobe’s career — teaming with Shaq, winning three championships, breaking up with Shaq and trying to gain complete command of the Lakers’ franchise for the last three years — comparisons to Jordan have always abounded.

Some think it’s unfair to Kobe. Others think that he shouldn’t even be compared to Jordan in the first place — Kobe is Kobe and Jordan is Jordan. But both schools of thought are wrong.

Kobe is an amazing player. Like all the great ones, he does things on the court that leave you falling out of your chair, with your jaw dropping to the floor. He has very comparable stats to Jordan, as he won three titles, and is arguably the better defensive player of the two. Kobe even has that really cool Adidas “Hate Me” commercial thing going.

But he’s never going to reach the bar set by Mike. And yeah, I just compared them.

For a moment, forget the tongue wag, the “Like Mike” Gatorade ads and even the six championships.

Michael Jordan, above all else, had unwavering loyalty to the Chicago Bulls franchise, the city of Chicago and to himself. Essentially spending his whole career in Chicago (MJ’s circus stint with the Wizards is in no way a part of his legacy), Jordan was the perfect guy to build a team around. He didn’t need a Shaq by his side to win a title — Scottie Pippen was good enough. When Scottie was out, MJ elevated his game, doing whatever he had to do to win.

Which is why Kobe Bryant’s announcement Tuesday that he wanted to be traded rubbed me the wrong way.

“I would like to be traded, yeah,” he told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. “Tough as it is to come to that conclusion, there’s no other alternative, you know?”

“I just want them to do the right thing,” Bryant added. “At this point I’ll go play on Pluto.”

I’m not sure where to start in dissecting Kobe’s statements. It’s probably better to not even analyze them at all. There’s so much unintended irony in Kobe’s words that it’s probably best to let them speak for themselves.

Regardless of what he said exactly, Kobe Bryant made a mistake when he asked to be traded, and he knew it right away — just yesterday he backtracked, telling ESPN’s Dan Patrick, “I don’t want to go anywhere else. I want to be here for the rest of my career.”

In the first place, it’s incredibly childish and unbecoming of an NBA superstar (or maybe not) to say you want to be traded one day and then go against your word the next. But just the fact that Kobe wanted to be traded, the fact that he had envisioned a legacy for himself — and now has thoughts of rejecting it — startles me.

Sure, Kobe has every right in the world to demand a trade. Allen Iverson had that very right in Philadelphia and took advantage of it. But Kobe doesn’t have nearly the maturity or deference that AI has developed in recent years. He isn’t just about winning a championship — he’s about winning a championship with his name on it. At least that’s what he’s projected since the day that Shaq left L.A. If Kobe ditched his dynasty, it would undermine not only his integrity, but his legacy as well.

But most importantly, and most daringly, Kobe temporarily turned his back on the city of Los Angeles.

When it came to basketball, Kobe galvanized L.A., becoming larger than life in a city that prides itself on that very quality.

L.A. is a city that doesn’t care for sports, but did care when Kobe entered the spotlight. A city that is more focused on TV and the latest fashions filled the stands, largely because of him. It was the same city that stood behind him fully when he faced the toughest ordeal of his life with the bogus rape accusations.

That’s what Kobe turned his back on.

I have no qualms with comparing Kobe to MJ. Their games are too similar not to compare them.

But the conclusion I’ve come to is that Kobe, like nearly all of us, can only wish to be “Like Mike.”

Jack Salisbury is a freshman covering NBA drama. Let him know if Kobe is fit to be compared even to the lowly Scottie Pippen at jack24@stanford.edu.