The GOAT debate in the NBA has been going on ever since the days of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell battling it out in the frontcourt for the distinction of being the league’s best player, paving the way for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Over the years, the debate has evolved with players like Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Boston Celtics icon Larry Bird getting in the conversation and then Michael Jordan seemingly taking over and not looking back until Kobe Bryant emerged as the NBA’s best player and the player that came the closest to resembling the Chicago Bulls legend on the basketball floor.
During Bryant’s prime with the Lakers, LeBron James came into the league and started making some noise with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which has only gotten louder and louder throughout his remarkable career in the NBA.
Although the consensus around the league and its fans seems to be that Jordan is still the greatest player ever to play the game on the professional level, James has made the debate that much more interesting with his incredible longevity and the accolades he’s piled up along the way.
However, some believe that Bryant was unfairly pushed out of the conversation, with his former teammate Shaquille O’Neal and current Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green debating about the subject recently and why the late great five-time NBA champion doesn’t get more credit via The Big Podcast with Shaq.
“No. 1, he played with you,” Green said. “And people hold that against him. No. 2, Kobe kind of fell in a weird time, and what I mean by that is Mike [Jordan] left the league. When Mike left the league, y’all were dominating. And then when you left the Lakers, they had a few rough years, wasn’t great. … So in the years where Kobe could’ve been dominating, where he was from a numbers standpoint, but they weren’t winning nothing. In those years, Bron was making his hay and starting to make his name. … And I think the amount of time that it was a consensus that Kobe was the No. 1 in the league … I don’t think it was long enough for everybody to say, like, to put him in that conversation.”
Draymond’s explanation on why people don’t have Kobe in the GOAT conversation 👀
(Ep. 22) pic.twitter.com/20deatiaeD
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) September 24, 2024
Ultimately, it seems the GOAT debate is coming down to James and Jordan, with the current Lakers superstar doing everything in his power to prove he should be the consensus greatest player of all time.
However, Bryant will always linger in the conversation for what he accomplished during his 20-year career, and understandably so.
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