Los Angeles Lakers: Four reasons why LeBron is better than Kobe

LeBron James joining the Los Angeles Lakers has made the LeBron vs. Kobe debate much more interesting. At the end of the day, LeBron deserves the nod.

I recently was a part of a hefty 45 minute LeBron James vs Kobe Bryant debate, which inspired me to write this article. Even with James joining the Los Angeles Lakers, most Laker fans feel very strongly that Bryant is the better all-time player, citing various different reasons.

Whether it is the Mamba Mentality or five rings or one 81-point performance, most of the arguments for Kobe are the same. Meanwhile, most of the bad things about LeBron are the same: he chokes, had to join the Miami Heat, played in the East, etc.

Both are great players and both will go down as one of the greatest of all-time. However, at the end of the day, it is James that deserves the nod. If you don’t already think that is the case, let me tell you why.

1. LeBron James is noticeably better in all-around metrics

We are going to start with the easiest argument to make and probably the most simple of the five: LeBron James is simply better when it comes to all-around metrics.

In his prime, Kobe Bryant was one of the most lethal scorers in NBA history and there were dominant stretches that really swung how he was viewed by the NBA faithful. Many would say that Kobe is a better scorer than LeBron and we will get to that in the next slide.

However, when it comes to rebounding, facilitating and the ability to run an offense, James holds a distinct advantage. You could argue that James has a better basketball IQ and is a better overall teammate than Kobe.

The stats don’t lie and when it is all said and done, LeBron will be ahead of Kobe in most major stats. That should be enough, but it is not, so we have to break this down to four points.