Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green was on former Los Angeles Lakers player Shaquille O'Neal's show called “The Big Podcast” where they talked about a bevy of topics related to the NBA and current events. However, O'Neal would talk about the conversation regarding who the greatest of all time is and how while it usually includes Michael Jordan and LeBron James, he asks why the late, great Lakers legend in Kobe Bryant isn't on there which Green gave his explanation.
Green says people hold against Bryant that he was with O'Neal on Lakers
First off, Green put Bryant in his Mount Rushmore along with O'Neal, James, and teammate Stephen Curry, so his appreciation for Bryant is up in the stratosphere since he left the obvious choice of Jordan off his list. He would say that the former superstar isn't usually considered the greatest of all time is that he had success with O'Neal and then when he left, the Lakers struggled for a bit.
“Number one because he played with you, and people hold that against him,” Green said. “Number two I think Kobe kind of fell in a weird time, and what I mean by that is, Mike left the league, when Mike left the league y’all started dominating. Then you left the Lakers, and when you left the Lakers they had a few rough years, it wasn’t great. Smush Parker, they didn’t have a great roster. Rudy Tomjanovich, that was an epic fail, it wasn’t great.”
Green mentions LeBron James' ascension during Bryant's career
Green would also bring up an interesting point regarding the timing of while Bryant was still putting up insane numbers but not having mega success with the Lakers, another superstar was starting his tremendous career with James on the Cleveland Cavaliers. He would also say that the numbers Bryant had at being the top guy was not “long enough for everybody to put him in that conversation.”
“While it wasn’t going great, there was a young guy in Cleveland who started making his hay, so in the years where Kobe could’ve been dominant, which he was from a numbers stand point, but they weren’t winning nothing,” Green said. “In those years Bron was making his hay, and starting to make his name, and is he the best player. And I think the number of years that Kobe was number one in the league, like the top guy, I don’t think it was long enough for everybody to put him in that conversation, because Bron then came and put his name in the conversation.”
It still should not take away from the fact that Bryant had a stellar career with Los Angeles, one that everybody in the league hopes to have as he won five titles, was NBA Finals MVP twice, a league MVP once, was an 18-time All-Star, and many more accomplishments. Bryant tragically passed away along with his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash in Jan. of 2020 as his memory has been and will be remembered forever.
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