Ever since LeBron James set foot on an NBA hardwood, he’s been compared to – and antagonized by – many former and current legends of the game. Rather than appreciate his greatness, people always try to put up rankings.
Needless to say, that means that Kobe Bryantwas his biggest ‘rival’, sort of say, during most of his career as they went back-and-forth for the ‘best player in the NBA‘ distinction, even if they never met in the playoffs.
That’s why most fans always fantasized to watch them go at each other, and there were never-ending debates regarding who’d beat who if they clashed one-on-one. For Kobe, however, there wasn’t any kind of debate.
Kobe Bryant Said He’d Easily Beat LeBron James
“Not even close. If we go one-on-one, that’s easy. Playing one-one-one is what I grew up playing, it’s like my thing. LeBron is more like Magic Johnson, he’s passing the players around him. I’m a one-on-one player, so… I’ll beat him in my sleep,” Bryant told reporters.
That’s the kind of competitiveness that often drove Kobe. He wanted to outwork everybody in the league and once they went one-on-one, there’s just no way he was going to let you beat him, not even if you’re LeBron James.
James and Kobe constantly battled in All-Star Games, with Bryant often getting the best of him because of his defense and determination to take every single game as if it was a Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Obviously, taking LeBron James one-on-one isn’t easy. He’s bigger, stronger, and even more athletic than Kobe Bryant. Kobe, on the other hand, was much of a better defender and overall scorer, so we say it would be a pretty tight game, that’s for sure.
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