Kobe Bryant named the top five players that he faced over his 20 years with the Lakers
Kobe Bryant is retiring and that’s not something that’s even remotely a secret anymore. Kobe made the announcement several weeks ago regarding his retirement and the news has had plenty of time to sink in for fans of the Los Angeles Lakers and of the NBA alike.
However, Bryant’s impending retirement allows for many questions to be asked of Kobe that there wouldn’t normally be. One of those came up as he was talking to the media on Monday and answering a number of questions far different than the normal queries of the press.
Kobe was asked who the five best players he ever played against were and, without a whole lot of hesitation, Bryant answered with his conditional top five:
Kobe says the top five players of his era were Hakeem Olajuwon, MJ, Durant, LeBron and, interestingly, Clyde Drexler.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) December 21, 2015
As many people noted after Kobe named those five players, Shaquille O’Neal is absent from that list. However, that dealt more with the phrasing of the question in being asked to name the top five players that he played against. Yes, he played against Shaq, but you have to imagine he considers him more of a teammate than anything else.
Another observation from Kobe’s list is that Clyde Drexler seems like an odd inclusion while other all-time greats that Bryant faced were left off of the list. However, considering that Kobe would have been matched up with “The Glide” when they faced off, it makes a little more sense that an underrated all-time great in Drexler would make Bean’s list.
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What do the fans think, though? Would your list of the best players Kobe has faced look different than his? Let us know in the comments.