We asked NBA Reddit their thoughts on Kobe Bryant ahead of the Lakers legend’s final game
Kobe Bryant has one final game remaining in the NBA. It’s a finality that seems all too real for Lakers fans ahead of his final outing on April 13 against the Utah Jazz. However, the retirement of Kobe Bryant is something that reverberates throughout the NBA as a whole.
Whether or not you’ve been a Lakers fan from the moment that you came out of the womb or have just been following the NBA with any kind of consistency over the past 20 years as he’s been one of the biggest stars, fans of the league and of basketball as a whole have formed strong opinions of Kobe Bryant.
In the age of the Internet, I figured what better way to go about finding out what these fans thought about and felt about Kobe Bryant on his way out the door than by asking the folks of r/nba on Reddit what they thought.
It was quite simple really; we asked NBA Reddit to describe Kobe or say what he meant to them in one sentence. Though the response wasn’t overwhelming, but those who did respond covered a vast array of feelings.
From good to bad to somewhere in-between, here are the majority of the responses (with a few excluded for a number of reasons):
Though there are numerous responses that are fascinating throughout the thread, perhaps the prevailing notion is the duplicity of Kobe Bryant as a figure in the NBA.
There are plenty of fans calling him a legend and a hero, but also plenty of fans that talk about him being an A-hole in the same breath. That’s really telling of what Kobe’s legacy is in this league, though. He was simultaneously the hero of many while others saw him as the villain that they needed to be saved from.
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If anything else, that uniqueness of Kobe Bryant’s impact will never be forgotten. There aren’t many players in the history of the league that would have elicited this type of response from a community that loves the NBA. Then again, there aren’t any players quite like Kobe Bryant in the history of the NBA.
And yes, u/oklewchaser—I think it’s safe to say he was indeed a decent basketball player.