This trip could be when we see LeBron James reach a milestone that will mean a lot for his Lakers tenure. He is 111 points behind Kobe Bryant on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, having passed Michael Jordan last season. The top four players on the list all spent at least part of their careers with the Lakers, but passing Bryant would be significant. This season, James is averaging 25.4 points, and if that continues it would mean passing Bryant in Philadelphia, where Bryant spent his high school years.
Kobe Bryant Rumors
All NBA Players
#0
Kobe Bryant
Position: -
Born: 08/23/78
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:220 lbs. / 99.8 kg.
Earnings: $328,237,108 ($400,241,994*)
Born: 08/23/78
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:220 lbs. / 99.8 kg.
Earnings: $328,237,108 ($400,241,994*)
NBA legend Kobe Bryant will step off the sidelines as a soccer fan this season, making his first foray into professional soccer in America. He’s helping tout a new partnership between MLS and BodyArmor — a sports drink company Bryant has invested in since 2014, acquiring a 10% stake that is now valued at $200 million. A long-time fan of the game, Bryant first started tracking the league when David Beckham joined the Galaxy in 2007.
Apart from losing in the NBA finals against the Boston Celtics back in 2008, not playing in his first two, three years was the least favorite part in his illustrious career. Even though the Lakers at that time had solid players on the guard positions, Kobe believes he should have played more minutes. He said the main reason why that didn’t happen was because of the Dell Harris, who was the head coach for the Lakers during those years. “There were a couple of them. Losing to the Celtics in 08 was tough. Before that, at the beginning of the journey, it was not playing. Coming in as a rookie knowing s— is going to be like this, I would go back to school because I felt like my coach Del Harris at the time was trying to make sure he is not favoring the young kids and as a result, he swan in the other direction doing things that weren’t really fair. My first 2,3 years were a nightmare for me.”
During that period, he was actively questioning his decision to come to the NBA and not going to college, thinking he would at least play more minutes in NCAA. “I saw my peers playing 30-35 minutes per game doing their thing, and I am sitting here glued to the bench. I was getting really pissed off and ticketed off, thinking I should have just go to college. That was the hardest part.”
Bryant was a member of the 96 draft class, which remains one of the most talented in NBA history. All the best players from that class immediately played a lot of minutes for their teams, which frustrated Bryant, who was getting garbage minutes with the Lakers. During that period, he was actively questioning his decision to come to the NBA and not going to college, thinking he would at least play more minutes in NCAA. “I saw my peers playing 30-35 minutes per game doing their thing, and I am sitting here glued to the bench. I was getting really pissed off and ticketed off, thinking I should have just go to college. That was the hardest part.”
Given that, it should come as no surprise that Bryant, now 41, desperately wanted to match Jordan’s biggest NBA accomplishment. By the time Bryant’s career was over, he wanted to win six NBA championships. Bryant never got there. And while Bryant won five rings and cemented his legacy as one of the greatest players of all time, not winning a sixth ring really “pissed” Bryant off. Bryant revealed that on the “All the Smoke” podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. The Jordan conversation begins around the 27:50 mark.
