Kobe Bryant spent 20 long seasons in the NBA, during which he solidified his status as one of the all-time greats of the game. He enjoyed tremendous success both on an individual and team level, as he won 5 championships, 2 Finals MVPs, an MVP, and 2 scoring titles.
The list of accomplishments can go on forever, as Bryant did so many great things during his time in the league. No one would have seen this coming, though, when the Lakers traded for a 17-year-old kid coming out of high school on draft night in 1996, and it has gone down as one of the greatest moves ever made in sports history.
Kobe Bryant Revealed His Favorite Teammate And The Opponent He Would Pick To Be His Teammate
Bryant’s career would last all the way to 2016, and he got to witness first-hand just how the landscape of the league was changing as the game kept evolving. Having played for so long and having competed for the biggest prize in the sport so many times, Bryant played with and against some great players. He was once asked who would be the one player he would pick to be his teammate among those he played with and against, to which Kobe had this to say.
“I played with I’d say, Derek Fisher. Just because he has the attitude of a champion. That stuff is really hard to find, a person that has that kind of grit and that togetherness and that make no excuses, get it done by any means necessary sort of attitude. He’s been my favorite teammate of all time.”
“Players I played against, I’d really enjoy to be teammates with (Michael) Jordan because I just feel like practices would be very interesting. It’s like you go to practice and you know it’s on. That’s really the fun of it, it’s going to practice every day and competing and it makes you better when you have teammates that push you and stuff like that and that would be really really fun.”
The Fisher answer may be a bit surprising to some, but the two of them won 5 titles together with the Lakers and formed a special bond during that time. Fisher was everything Bryant mentioned there, as he was a role player who contributed to winning at seemingly every team he was on.
It is safe to say there was no surprise whatsoever when it came to an opponent Kobe would have loved to have as a teammate. He idolized Michael Jordan and copied so many of his mannerisms on the court that it almost looked like it was MJ. It would have been some sight to watch the two of them as teammates, and it could have become a reality if MJ had followed Phil Jackson to the Lakers in 1999. Ultimately he didn’t, but at least we got to see some epic Kobe vs. Jordan clashes as compensation.
