Kobe Bryant: Why He Is Underrated in Lakers and NBA History

Kobe Bryant just passed former teammate Shaquille O’Neal for fifth place on the all time scoring list. The Lakers star now only trails Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Bryant recently entered his 16^th NBA season and is playing as good now as he did during his mid-20s. Kobe leads the NBA in scoring so far this season and has already had four games in which he has scored 40 points or more.

Bryant passing O’Neal on the all-time scoring list really makes you think about where Kobe stands among the league greats.

I don’t know what it is but it seems like many are reluctant to put Kobe in the same class as Magic, Kareem and Jordan. The way his legacy has been talked about recently makes me feel like Kobe is becoming underrated.

Kobe has most often been compared to the greatest Lakers of all time. The Lakers are one of the NBAs most beloved teams, a franchise with a rich and storied history which includes stars like Magic, Kareem, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

Many diehard Lakers fans don’t want to put Kobe in the same class as players that are viewed as immortal to them. They don’t want to lessen the accomplishments of players who they grew up revering.

But if you look at it objectively, Kobe is on the same level or better than any player in team history.

When you look at championships, Kobe has just as many as Magic and Kareem and more than West and Baylor.

Many will say that Kobe had Shaq and that’s the only reason he won. However, look at Magic’s teams and he had a star studded lineup the included Kareem, James Worthy and key role players like Michael Cooper and Byron Scott.

Kobe was also able to win his last two titles with Pau Gasol as his second fiddle. Gasol is a very good player but is no way near the player Kareem was. Due to this, one could strongly argue that Kobe’s championship victories as a whole were more impressive than Magic’s.

Statistically, Kobe is on par with any in franchise history. He is fifth on the all-time scoring list and has scored more points as a Laker than any player in team history.

I think many don’t want to put Kobe above Magic in Lakers history because of his unfriendly demeanor as opposed to Magic’s fan-friendly style of play. Magic always played with a smile on his face and was an extremely unselfish player, while Kobe is viewed by many as a selfish shoot-first diva.

Also Kobe’s legal troubles in 2004 ruined his reputation to many. It took him years to overcome this incident and many will never forgive him for what conspired.

When Magic announced he had contracted HIV in the early 90s’, people didn’t look at him in a negative light after he admitted he got the disease by cheating on his wife. Fans instead felt terrible for Johnson and viewed him as admirable for living with the disease and helping so many others who were suffering with HIV.

If you extend it past only Lakers players, Kobe is among the best in NBA history.

Many are reluctant to compare Kobe to Michael Jordan. I don’t know why but for some reason people have come to an agreement that no player can be compared to Air Jordan.

Kobe is one of the few players that deserves a comparison. Bryant only has one less championship ring than Jordan and has won two of them with a worse supporting cast than Jordan ever had during his championship years.

Jordan did dominate Kobe if you look at MVP awards. But Kobe wasn’t able to put up the huge numbers Jordan did early on in his career because he was playing with Shaq who took shots away from Bryant.

Bryant has a great chance to pass Jordan on the all-time scoring list and may even be able to pass Kareem for first all time. Statistically, Kobe is very similar to Jordan, putting up comparable numbers in assists, rebounding and scoring.

Kobe Bryant is unquestionably one of the NBA’s all-time great players. However, many fans are hesitant to put Kobe in this class because of a variety of factors.

If you can put up numbers comparable to Michael Jordan while winning five championships, you are a legend of the game.