Kobe Bryant is still better than LeBron James. Here’s why

Loyalty

Loyalty is something you never see anymore in professional sports. Athletes will try to do everything they can to put themselves in a position to contend for a championship every year.

Players like Tim Duncan, John Stockton, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant, are all players who have demonstrated loyalty.

Loyalty is an underrated aspect to a person’s career. Do people realize how tough it is to stay put in one organization for at least a decade?

Throughout Kobe’s career, he’s faced a lot of adversity.

There were times when Kobe was in his prime and his entire team was hot garbage. You want to know who his teammates were during his prime?

Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, Devean George, Chris Mihm, Luke Walton, Stanislav Medvedenko, and Devin Green. You probably don’t even know half these players.

Even though Kobe asked for a trade in 2007, he didn’t take the usual route as most players would do now. Sit out until you’re traded. Kobe stuck it out, and received more help when the time came.

Despite all the rough patches Kobe went through, he still ended up with five championships, and cemented his legacy as not only as a Laker great, but as an all-time great.

LeBron on the other hand is basically done the opposite of loyalty.

In his early years with Cleveland, he couldn’t win in his six-year span there and decided to go to Miami during free agency to form a big three with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

They won two championships in four years, but as soon as they lost in 2014, LeBron packed his bags and went back to Cleveland to form yet another big three with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

They won one championship in four years, but once they lost in 2018, LeBron left for Los Angeles, where he eventually was able to form a dominant duo with him and Anthony Davis.

I just want to make this clear: LeBron James is a top five player of all-time. Just because I prefer Kobe over LeBron, that doesn’t mean I’m “hating” on LeBron.

We all have opinions, and we’re all entitled to it. Growing up, I watched both these players in their prime. My whole thing is that I prefer winning and skill over stats and talent. That’s just me.

This isn’t to say that LeBron is not great. This is more to highlight how great of a legacy Kobe had. Ever since Kobe had retired back in 2016, it seems that the majority of the media and casual audience is trying to erase his greatness.

I’m here to remind you that Kobe is great. And the same goes for LeBron. When the day comes that LeBron surpasses Kobe in all-time points, we’ll all be cheering.

The most important thing to take away from this is to appreciate greatness. The sad truth is that LeBron is not going to be in the league much longer. Appreciate him while he’s still in the league. But with doing that, don’t forget the greats that came before him, like Kobe.