By MJ you mean Magic, right? That's a very good question. There must be some hard feelings there after he left the Lakers. He clearly wasn't happy with ownership, and Magic is a part Lakers owner.
Kobe is a lot more of a Laker Shaq had to deal with and he is on his present list. IMO, he would have excluded Kobe before Magic Johnson, if Laker grudges were involved.
I don't know... Not mentioning Magic among all time PGs is easier then not including Kobe as one of the 5 best players in the league today. He would sound like an idiot if he didn't include Kobe.
I'm pretty sure he was quoting Shaq, who mocked Yao by calling him a "ching chong" (or something along those lines) when he first entered the league.