It's a debate that will likely never be settled, but that won't stop people from talking about it.
There have been many great players that have suited up for the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. It only makes sense considering the franchise has won 16 championships over the course of 69 years.
While many greats have played for the Lakers, there are really only two names that pop up when discussing the greatest player in franchise history—Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant.
The old-time fans will likely pick Johnson as the greatest Laker of all time, while the younger generation will probably side with Bryant. Johnson however, believes that the “Black Mamba” is the greatest Laker of all time, as he stated once again on the “Jimmy Kimmel Show”:
“He and I both have five championships,” Johnson said. “He did it his way with dominating the scoring and really putting the team on his back. And I did it my way with my leadership and really trying to make sure that I put our team in a position to win. And I did that. At the end of the day, who cares, whether it’s him or I?
But he has represented this city and the Lakers organization as well as anybody could.”
It is not the first time the legendary point guard has made this claim. Prior to Bryant's last NBA game back in April, Johnson had said the same thing regarding Bryant:
“We are here to celebrate greatness, for 20 years,” Johnson said. “Excellence, for 20 years. Kobe Bryant has never cheated the game. He has never cheated us as the fans. He's played through injuries, he's played hurt, and we have five championship banners to show for it. […] He is not only a great and unbelievable sports icon, but also, he's the greatest to wear the purple and gold.”
This is simply a debate that will never reach a conclusion because you can't go wrong with either player. Both guys played their entire careers in Los Angeles and each brought five championships to the city.
As similar as they were in terms of winning success, they were just as different in regards to how they played the game. Johnson preferred dominating by getting his teammates involved, while Bryant dominated games by scoring at will.
Regardless, the Lakers are lucky enough to have had two of the greatest guards to ever play the game on their teams.
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