Kobe Bryant was one of the greatest players of all time. LeBron James is the closest thing the modern generation of hoops fans has had to Michael Jordan.
Understandably, many have wondered what would have happened had the two ever squared off in a 1-on-1 battle.
Hilariously enough, that is actually something Bryant had put a lot of thought into at one point in his life.
So much so, in fact, that he broke down how it would go during a now-infamous interview.
“Me. No question,” Bryant said in a session with the media. “As far as one-on-one, I’m the best to ever do it. LeBron is a terrific all-around, five-on-five basketball player who’s an all-time great. But I’d get him.”
It wasn’t just James, though. Bryant also believed he could easily beat his good friend Kyrie Irving 1-on-1 as well.
“Kyrie’s my boy, but he knows he doesn’t have anything for me,” the Lakers legend said per ESPN. “He doesn’t want to see me. But it would be fun. I’ve beaten a lot of guys one-on-one, like Reggie Miller and Grant Hill. I used to play Caron Butler all the time in practice when he was with the Lakers.
“When I was a rookie I used to get Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones. They know. They’ll tell you. They used to come at me hard but I wasn’t having that. I love going one-on-one with someone. That’s what I do. I’ve never lost. It’s a whole different game, just to have them right in front of you and be able to do whatever you want.”
Bryant is a one of a kind personality and talent.
Whether it was him predicting LeBron James’ Lakers failure or the time he refused to speak to anyone for two weeks or the time he cursed out Charles Barkley – he always kept it real.
Yikes. https://t.co/buemIHNaZr
— Game 7 (@game7__) May 26, 2022
This was just par for the course.
It’s a good thing stories like this continue to come out, because it allows fans who missed Bryant’s heyday to understand what an epic persona he truly was.
Related: Baseball Fan Goes Viral During SEC Tournament (Video)
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
