The late, great Kobe Bryant was ranked No. 11 on Bleacher Report’s list of the top 100 NBA players of all time, triggering a lot of furious reactions from many of his former peers and teammates.
Leading the charge was now other than Shaquille O’Neal, who won three NBA championships alongside Bryant between 2000 and 2002. In response to the list on X, Shaq said it was “criminal” that Bryant was ranked as low as No. 10.
Elsewhere, Kenyon Martin blamed the analytics-obsessed NBA media for disrespecting “The Black Mamba” and his accomplishments.
“They put all the information in a computer,” Martin said of how the list was created. “…It’s unfortunate that Kobe’s not here to speak for himself.”
Matt Barnes believes that a lot of the disrespect towards his former teammate started after he passed away in 2020. Barnes believes only people who never competed at the highest level would rate Bryant as low in an all-time ranking.
“To me, Kobe is the second greatest player of all time. Period,” Barnes said. “None of this weird talk was going on while he was here. I worked for ESPN and FOX — when you have a bunch of [analysts] talking about [Bryant] — I just don’t go by it. And a lot of former players don’t go by it. You have to listen to what your peers are saying.”
Kobe Bryant Ranked Below Stephen Curry
In Bleacher Report’s list, Bryant was ranked No. 11, behind Stephen Curry, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James. The authors of the list conceded Bryant’s top-10 status remains “one of basketball’s most heated debates” while they tried to justify their decision.
“There’s a case to be made that Kobe is actually the most influential to ever set foot on the NBA’s hardwood,” read the article. “His prime bisected with two different periods: the era in which mythology reigns supreme, and the social media age, which broadened his exposure and brand and, by extension, his legend.”
“Older heads continue to worship at the altar of his maniacal work ethic. Contemporaries still cite him as a source of stylistic inspiration.
“From a basketball-reputation perspective, no one’s impact on the game has actively spanned more generations.”
Kobe Felt Russell Was the GOAT
In a 2019 interview with The Athletic’s Frank Isola, Bryant rated Bill Russell as the greatest of all time, citing the Celtics legend’s 11 NBA championship rings.
“You know what, everybody has this conversation about who’s the best,” Bryant said.
“The question to ask is does it matter? No. What matters is what? Winning championships. That’s the only thing that matters. You can sit here and debate until you’re blue in the face about who is the best. What you cannot debate is who is the champion at the end of the year. Period. Bill Russell is the greatest.”
However, Bryant ranked himself higher than James and Jordan during an appearance on “Late Late Show with James Corden” in 2019.
“I’m not going to answer this because everyone is going to debate about it,” he said.
When pressed again, Bryant said: “I’m the best, Michael is second best, LeBron is third best.”
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