Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players and shooting guards of all time, after scoring 33,643 career points, 7,047 career rebounds, 6,306 career assists, 1,944 career steals and 640 career blocks in 20 seasons in the league, the Black Mamba decided to hang it up and retire from the National Basketball Association. In his historic professional basketball career, the Mamba achieved some great milestones including a Most Valuable Player award, five NBA championships, two Finals MVP awards, 18 all-star game appearances, four all-star game MVP awards and made the all-NBA first team 11 times.
Looking back on his career, Kobe Bryant is very proud and satisfied with what he was able to achieve, he played against some of the greatest players in history and put up some memorable performances. But there was one player that Kobe Bryant did not get the chance to play alongside, but he believes would’ve been something special if he had.
Kobe wanted to play with LeBron James
Kobe Bryant had a very successful basketball career, but there is someone who could’ve made his career even more successful. Although they had their fair share of battles and duels, both Kobe Bryant and LeBron James could’ve been even more successful if they had played together instead of against each other. When Kobe was asked recently to look back at his career and choose a player he wishes he would’ve played within his prime, the Black Mamba said:
“I think the player that would fit with me the most, I think would be LeBron.
He’s a passer. First, I’m a scorer; I’m a finisher. Bron is a facilitator by nature, and I’m a finisher by nature. Those two styles, I think complement each other extremely well.”
Although we all loved watching the King and the Mamba face off against each other in their primes, it might’ve been even more fun to watch them as teammates.
They never were able to face off against each other in the NBA Finals despite either of them being in each of the last 10 NBA Finals. It was always a fans dream to watch LeBron and the Cavs or Heat face off against Kobe and the Lakers in the Finals, but teams including the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder prevented that.
Would they be a successful duo?
As Kobe Bryant said, the two might have been a great duo due to LeBron’s unselfishness and Kobe’s killer scoring instinct. Both players would take their own shots, but they would’ve likely made a great tandem. Rumors were leaked in 2017 about a possible Kobe Bryant for LeBron James trade that almost happened in 2007 when Kobe demanded a trade from the Lakers. We almost saw LeBron in LA and Bryant in Cleveland, but the Cavaliers reportedly declined the trade at the last minute. This would’ve made things very interesting in the league, and could’ve changed a lot for both their careers.
But the fact of the matter is that these two men never got the chance to get to play alongside each other minus Team USA. And we will never know how successful they would’ve been together; we can just guess that they would’ve been… pretty dang good.
