Trevor Ariza Says He Can Take Michael Jordan Now In 1-On-1 Hoops

Another challenge to MJ’s basketball manhood. While in Los Angeles recently, Trevor Ariza said told TMZ that he believes he can take MJ right now in a game of one-on-one. Or at least he should be able to.

“I better be able to beat Jordan one on one now,” Ariza said.

Ariza’s slightly tongue-in-cheek assertion marks the latest provocation towards the 52-year-old Jordan, whose career was impugned through this year’s NBA Finals by select media and fans claiming that LeBron James had overtaken Jordan as the greatest player of all time. The most cited reason for the leap is LeBron’s supposed degree of difficulty in leading a rag-tag Cavaliers team to the championship round. (LeBron’s Finals record dropping to 2-4 – compared to Jordan’s 6-0 – pretty much shut that yap up, however.)

Ariza might do well to remember former Utah Jazz forward Bryon Russell’s earnest affirmation in the years just after Jordan iced him in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals that he could defeat MJ. Obviously, Jordan never obliged the request, preferring to let his career accomplishments speak for him.

You can check the TMZ clip below. Let us know if you’d bet against MJ in a one-on-one game with any player going today.