Is Kobe Bryant Now The Greatest Laker Of All Time?

On February 1st, 2010 Kobe Bryant passed Jerry West as the Lakers’ all time leading scorer. Then on the following day, Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated wrote an article calling Kobe the greatest Laker of all time. I will have to agree with him. Kobe will turn 32 years old this summer and he has already passed scoring greats like Kareem and Magic, not to mention the face of the sport Jerry West. Kobe has won 4 championships in his young career and could possibly win a 5th this year and tie Magic for the most in franchise history. Kobe has also climbed to 14th in the all time scoring list for the league and should clear 12th by the end of the year. Kobe is young enough to break the 35,000 point mark and possibly be the all time leading scorer. We are talking about a player who scored 81 points a couple of years ago, a feet Jordan never accomplished. Plus think of this, if Jordan was never around we would be talking about Kobe as possibly the greatest player to play the game. Kobe Bryant is a player who Jerry West himself watched a workout before trading for him after the draft and was in awe of his abilities. Jerry watched Kobe touch the back of the board and schooled Michael Cooper like a rookie. Because of all of this, I have to say he is the greatest Laker of all time.

Few sports writers would consider Kobe the greatest Laker of all time. Quite a few have a hard time putting him in the top five. Is it because his career isn’t over yet? Maybe. Fact of the matter is that not only is Jerry West the greatest Laker of all time, but he is also the face of the NBA. His silhouette is on every NBA jersey and every broadcast. Plus we have to look at Magic, who has 5 championships and his assists and rebound totals are far higher than Kobe’s. I know they played different positions, but the lead Magic has on those 2 stats is far higher than the lead Kobe has on Magic in scoring. I also think that when you consider a franchise player, you have to look at more than just the court. Sure Kobe has some funny commercials with Lebron right now, but what has he done in the community and main stream? We have always heard about the research Magic has done for aids and cancer. Also don’t forget Magic has never been in trouble with the law, which goes a long way with the public. Let’s not forget a few others we could put up there: Kareem, Elgin Baylor, and James Worthy. Kobe at best is maybe 3rd among these players.