“It’s hard to say Kobe wasn’t the greatest one,” West told USA TODAY Sports. “But you can’t discard Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You can’t discard Elgin Baylor. You can’t discard Shaquille O’Neal. You can’t discard Earvin Johnson.” You can’t discard Johnson, who set franchise records for most triple doubles (138), most assists in a game (24) and empowered two Hall of Famers (Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy) and countless role players for nearly a decade. “He was an incredible leader and he made people play as a team because of his unselfishness and incredible feel for the game,” West said. “When I watched him, I used to say to myself, ‘Here is a player that everyone would like to play with because of his ability to lead and to bring players along with him.’”
