Kobe Bryant and the Most Out-of-Control Egos in the NBA

Let's just be honest, most professional athletes have pretty big egos.  Professional athletes don't often get to where they are at by underestimating their own talents and skills.

There are however a rare few in the NBA who are humble and unassuming like Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Love, but this article isn't about those players. 

This article is about the players in the NBA who have egos that are larger than life and are only going to get bigger as their careers progress.  

The NBA is without a doubt full of "divas" who think they are God's gift to the world and to the game of basketball, and if you read on you'll find out who those "divas" are.  

Ahead is a list of the biggest egos in the NBA.  Enjoy!  

Honorable Mention: Glen Davis and Kevin Garnett

The Boston Celtics are without a doubt the team in the NBA with the biggest amount of ego maniacs on their roster.  

Glen Davis and Kevin Garnett both play the game and carry themselves like they are untouchable.  Both Garnett and Davis are obsessed with drawing attention to themselves, Garnett with his signature uncontrollable emotions and Davis with his cry baby mentality.  

Glenn Davis and Kevin Garnett aren't big enough ego maniacs to make the list, unlike their buddy Rajon Rondo, but they do deserve at least a shootout.  Good news for Davis and Garnett though is that if they keep building up their egos they can make next year's list.    

Honorable Mention: Chauncey Billups

Chauncey Billups wouldn't have made this list if he would have kept his mouth shut last week, but unfortunately he didn't.

Billups, after being released by the New York Knicks had the audacity to tell teams that if they picked him off the waiver wire that he would consider retirement. I understand that is his choice to make, but he made it seem like getting payed $14.2 million dollars (base salary determined by new team, rest payed by Knicks) to play at least 66 games of basketball was torture for him.  Poor Chauncey Billups, getting payed almost $212,000 a game is really tough isn't it?

Chauncey Billups earned himself a spot on the honorable mention list because of that quote alone, and if he even mentions retirement again, he will find himself on the actual list.  

LeBron James

I'm a big LeBron fan, but there is no denying that he thinks pretty highly of himself.  He did apologize numerous times for holding "The Decision" back in the summer of 2010, but he will never be able to live down that enormous ego maniacal public relations move.

Hopefully LeBron and his larger than life ego will get smaller as he starts to win championships with the Heat, but that is most likely wishful thinking.  LeBron is a good guy at heart but the publicity surrounding him his whole life really set him up to become the egocentric personality that he is today.   

Rajon Rondo

There's just something about Rajon Rondo that screams ego maniac.  Maybe it's the locker room outbursts or the consistent receiving of technical fouls, but when I hear the name Rondo the first word that comes to mind is arrogant.  

I think his ego sometimes can be confused with the "street" swagger that dictates his game but when the rubber meets the road it's clear that Rondo thinks he's pretty incredible.  Being on the Celtics with fellow basket cases Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen doesn't necessarily help Rondo become any more humble.

Who knows, maybe Rondo being trade bait this offseason will help him realize he isn't all that, but I highly doubt it.      

Zach Randolph

Zach Randolph had a breakout year last year, helping the Memphis Grizzlies reach the Western Conference quarterfinals.  Randolph's breakout season put more than his basketball skill on display though.  Randolph's larger than life ego was also unleashed for the world to see.

Randolph isn't necessarily the most blatantly arrogant player in the NBA, but he's always a guy that you see giving the "why didn't you pass me the ball" look whenever anyone else on the team shoots and misses on offense.  Randolph thinks he's God's gift to the Memphis Grizzlies and while he is good, he isn't that good.

Remember in 2009 when Randolph got ejected for punching Louis Amundson in the face?  Yea, that's the kind of guy Randolph is, which reflects his "I'm better than everyone" mentality.     

Stephen Jackson

Oh, Stephen Jackson, you are such an arrogant guy.  The best part of Stephen Jackson's ego is that he isn't really even that good of an NBA player.  Aside from getting lucky in 2003 with the San Antonio Spurs, winning an NBA championship, Jackson has no other awards or accolades.  He's never even made a second or third all-NBA team.  

Stephen Jackson carries himself like he doesn't know any of that though.  The one thing that Jackson has consistently been good at is accumulating technical fouls.  In 11 season in the NBA Jackson as received 106 technical fouls which is a pretty impressive feat.  Aside from technical fouls though Jackson really isn't anything special, but don't tell him that because he thinks he's the all time greatest.

There is really nothing Stephen Jackson can do to get off this list, he's just that arrogant.   

Kenyon Martin & J.R Smith

J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin are both on the list because they think the world of themselves, and they are on the same slide because they aren't technically in the NBA as we speak.  

Martin is still under contract with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, and Smith is still under contract with Zhejiang Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball Association.  Whether or not these guys are int he NBA currently doesn't change the fact that they both think they are untouchable, with a combined 125 technical fouls between them in 11 years.

Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith helped the Nuggets earn a "thug" reputation by constantly getting technical fouls and subsequent suspensions.

While both players aren't bad by any means, they still never lived up to the hype surrounding them when they entered the league and neither player seems to understand that.  

Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard finds his way onto the list via my "if you demand a trade from a playoff contending team, you have to have a big ego" rule.  Dwight Howard is one of the most likable players in the NBA because of his seemingly carefree attitude, but under that facade I think Howard really thinks he's a pretty big deal.

I don't have any problem with Dwight Howard, but to think that "superman" doesn't have an ego would be foolish.  Dwight Howard just has that look about him that screams, "If I had better teammates" or "if my team would step up", never focusing the responsibility of the team on himself.  

If Dwight Howard becomes a true leader and somehow realizes what he has in Orlando and stays he will be taken off this list, but until he does that he'll stay right where he is.    

Chris Paul

Here's another player who finds his way on this list by being a little bit of a diva by demanding a trade from a playoff contender in the New Orleans Hornets (although other reports later disputed that rumor.)  I know I'm not a professional athlete and I don't understand how it feels to make millions upon millions of dollars for playing a game, but it must be hard to have to do that on a team that is competitive year in and year out right?

Chris Paul is like the cry baby who whined his way to getting what he wanted, and that makes him an easy choice for this list.  I just get annoyed by players who think they are better than the team around them, and they make that known by requesting/demanding trades and not waiting for free agency.

I know sometimes teams try to trade players instead of letting them become free agents, but I don't know, there is just something about Chris Paul that screams arrogant and until he proves me wrong he will be on this list.  

Deron Williams

Deron Williams finds himself on this list for a few reasons.  First of all, Williams was involved in ongoing arguments with Jazz long-time head coach Jerry Sloan, that may have resulted in Sloan deciding to enter into an early retirement.  Secondly, once Deron Williams was traded out of Utah to the New Jersey Nets he made it clear that he had no intentions of signing with the team, although later reports disputed that. 

Don't get me wrong, I understand not wanting to sign with a terrible team, but there is a time and place to make that desire known and that time and place isn't the moment you're made aware of the trade.  When you're a young player in the NBA the last thing you need to do is make ultimatums or start demanding things and that is what Deron Williams has done.

Williams needs to relax and just take what comes to him, and show everyone that he's good enough to win with whoever he has around him.  Until he learns how to do that he will be on this list.   

Metta World Peace

This one is pretty straight forward.  You don't change your name to "Metta World Peace" without thinking you're a pretty special human being.  Here is World Peace's reason for changing his name; "Changing my name was meant to inspire and bring youth together all around the world."

While that reason is .05 percent admirable, there is no way to overlook the fact that even thinking that changing your name to Metta World Peace will actually have an impact on the world around you is pretty stupid and in some ways arrogant.  

Metta World Peace hasn't really helped his cause with his tendency to receive technical fouls, which reflects his "I'm untouchable" mentality.  Oh did I forget to talk about that time when he ran into the stands and beat down those fans?  Yea, that's not very "World Peace" of him is it?  Metta World Peace won't ever find his way off this list, unless he decides to change his name back to Ron.   

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant is in a league of his own when it comes to having an enormous ego.  Just take a look at Kobe and you'll see what I'm talking about.  The way he looks on the court and the way he carries himself on and off the basketball court screams "I'm God's gift to absolutely everything in life."

Kobe is the only basketball player that I consistently want to punch right in between the eyes.  Just look at some of the things he's said: "I said 'Man, look, I'm going to be that one-in-a-million,'" and "These young guys are out there playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess." 

I understand that some of those quotes could be seen as confident, but in my opinion Kobe is light years past being confident.

The reports about him repeatedly cheating on his wife, who just filed for divorce, don't help his case, either. Thinking he can yell at a referee and call him a gay slur paints more of the self-centered picture too.

Kobe Bryant, you are without a doubt the biggest egomaniac in the NBA, and I doubt you will ever change that.