Kobe Bryant is remembered as one of the NBA’s best-ever players. However, his legacy is a little complex when it comes to the GOAT debate, with people having widely different all-time rankings for the Mamba.
Some consider Kobe Bryant to be the greatest of all time. But that is a minority, most of the basketball world chooses Michael Jordan or LeBron James as their GOAT. So when fans recently discussed Kobe’s all-time ranking on social media, some interesting opinions were floating around.
NBA fans are notorious for never being able to agree on anything, and this debate was an excellent example of that. Answers varied drastically during this debate.
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“Honestly he’s #1. His mentality was different,” said one fan. Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality is an inspiration to NBA stars even today, so this is hard to dispute.
But one fan had a wildly different opinion, ranking Bryant outside the Top 10, saying, “Kobe is around 12th and that is being generous. If you have real basketball knowledge you know it’s hard to put Kobe over these greats: Lebron, Wilt, Kareem, Russell, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Duncan, Shaq, Hakeem.”
“If you ask anybody irl where Kobe ranks all time they’ll say top 3 only on Twitter will you hear otherwise,” said another individual, which seems to be an excellent point.
In terms of pure basketball takes, this isn’t a bad one: “4th behind – MJ, Bron, and Kareem. Could arguably put Bill Russell, Bird, and Wilt ahead of him also tho.”
It’s hard to say that this question has a right answer though, and this fan has pointed out the nuances: “One day when it’s all said and done, we are going to have this debate. Because I have to know if we’re talking 2000-2013 Kobe or if we are adding the post-Achilles tear years to the mix.”
Is Their A Fair All-Time Ranking For Kobe Bryant?
Conversations about where Kobe Bryant ranks all-time are perhaps the most difficult to analyze in the NBA. Shaquille O’Neal has spoken about how disrespectful it is to leave Bryant out of the GOAT conversation. But career comparisons between him and someone like Michael Jordan show that the edge MJ has is definitive.
Kobe Bryant himself never said he was the GOAT, although other players have made that claim for him. His legacy is that of being the ultimate competitor, a star that would do whatever it took to win. He defines how personal the conversation about all-time ranking can be because even if Kobe Bryant is someone’s GOAT or 10th on their list, there would be an argument to be made for both.
Source: fadeawayworld
