Ever since he made it to the NBA as the first overall pick of the 2003 Draft, LeBron James has been drawing a lot of interest and comparisons with other legends of the game, such as Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and even Kobe Bryant.
Bryand and James went back-and-forth for the distinction of the best player in the NBA. Obviously, the first dominated the league earlier in his career, while the latter carried his torch over the past decade.
And, according to Los Angeles Lakers‘ General Manager and former agent of Kobe Bryant Rob Pelinka, LeBron James and the Black Mamba are way more similar than people think, as they’re both obsessed with their craft and winning.
Rob Pelinka Says LeBron James And Kobe Bryant Are Maniacal About Winning
“The one thing that is so clear about both Kobe and LeBron is that they’re maniacal about the game of basketball,” Pelinka said on The Woj Pod Podcast. “What’s interesting about both LeBron and Kobe is that neither of them were satisfied or had a goal of scoring. Both LeBron and Kobe are about one thing, and that’s winning titles. The similarities in their approach of just being maniacal about doing whatever it takes to win championships is everything to both of those guys,“he said.
Pelinka added that he thinks that James and Bryant would have been closer nowadays if it wasn’t for Kobe’s tragical passing, but claimed that he believes that they share a ‘spiritual’ bond because of that.
“Maybe they could have had more of a relationship if the tragedy of 1/26 didn’t occur but I’ve almost seen post 1/26, the relationship of Kobe and LeBron, in some sense obviously now more spiritual, being more powerful,” he concluded.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers dedicated this season to the late legend and they capped it off in a big way by winning their 17th NBA Championship, which is just what their fanbase needed after enduring such a terrible loss and so many tough years over the past decade.