For decades, people have debated whether LeBron James is the greatest player in NBA history.
Some say that he’ll never be as good as Michael Jordan, some that he’s the most accomplished player of all time, and some don’t even put him in the same level as Kobe Bryant.
That’s why it was kind of a shock when, back in 2009, Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West said that James was undoubtedly better than Kobe:
“Who is better? To me, it’s a no-brainer, it’s LeBron James,” West said back then.
While that’s not exactly an unpopular opinion, it was kind of odd to see it coming from a person who was a close friend and a mentor for Kobe.
If we were to take a look at their accomplishments, you could say that James has a strong case for being a better player than Kobe.
If you broke down their games, Kobe was clearly the better scorer and much superior defender, but James has a huge edge in playmaking and Basketball IQ.
Kobe won more NBA Championships (thus far) but way fewer MVPs. He had more All-Defensive selections and is considered one of the mentally toughest players in the history of the game, whereas some people -flawlessly- say that James doesn’t thrive in the clutch.
At the end of the day, everybody’s entitled to their own opinion. The truth is that we’re talking about two completely different players who don’t even play the same position.
Kobe Bryant was the undisputed best player in the world during his prime and the same can be said of LeBron James.
They both ruled the NBA during their time and there’s no point in comparing them when we can bring both of them up.
