It felt like a blessing for fans to see Kobe Bryant dominate the NBA during his prime. Kobe used to score at will during his peak and gave fans several amazing memories during his illustrious career. One such memory was when Bryant scored his career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors.
Although Bryant is one of the most decorated players of all-time and was extremely talented, many might leave him off the list of mentioning the top 3 players of all-time. We are not suggesting that the Mamba doesn’t deserve that recognition, but most people will pick the likes of Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and LeBron James over Bryant.
Anyway, regardless of what others thought of him, Bryant was always soaring with confidence because he was sure of his skill set. One such example is from a 2012 Drew League game.
Bryant was asked about his thoughts on all-time greatest basketball players. Kobe laid out the names of just three players and claimed that it was a short list.
“You got to be kidding me. This s**t child’s play, man. It’s too child’s play. Child’s play. Repeat the list, man. Repeat the list. Wilt. Me. Mike. Say it with me. … Don’t forget the list, man. It’s a short list.”
The clip is from 2012 and at the time Kobe was still regarded as arguably the best player in the league. But Bryant tore his Achilles in 2013 and started declining after that.
Anyway, the players that Kobe mentioned are himself, Wilt Chamberlain, and Michael Jordan. Moreover, he put himself before MJ but after Wilt. It might seem shocking to some as MJ has quite literally destroyed almost every team back in his prime with his scoring.
For Wilt, we can easily measure his greatness with his points per game each season of his career. All things considered, a good deal of fans might agree with Kobe and some might not. But it doesn’t change the fact that these three players were insane during their respective careers.
