Kobe Bryant: Does He Need a 6th Ring to Solidify His Place in NBA History?

If Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant retired today, he would rightfully be remembered as one of the greatest NBA players to ever grace the court; but would a sixth NBA championship complete his journey to legendary status?

Bryant's list of career accomplishments is impressive, and when viewed alone they are enough to make an argument for Bryant as an all-time top-10 player right now.

Bryant is already sixth on the NBA's all-time scoring list, he has amassed numerous awards and accolades, and then there is the small matter of the five NBA championships he has already earned.

Using rings to judge the legacy of a superstar player can be a touchy subject, and even more so with Bryant because there are a contingent of people who feel Bryant receives too much credit for the team's success.

Bryant's sterling career speaks for itself, however, and in truth his accumulation of NBA titles only validates that.

Think about it.

If Bryant was any other player, there would probably be an active movement to speed up the process to have him enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Bryant's career as a Laker stands on equal footing with any other player in the history of the franchise, and whether or not you want to admit it, he is definitely in the argument for the franchise's greatest player.

Bryant has scored more points than the legendary Jerry West, and he has a chance to eclipse the number of championships won by Magic Johnson.

When it comes to the NBA in general, Bryant has earned two NBA Finals MVP awards, eight first-team all-defense awards and he has been recognized as the league's MVP once.

The fact that Bryant has backed that all up with five championships is amazing. Regardless of how you feel about using rings to determine a player's legacy, it is usually a point of emphasis when judging other great players.

Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic and Bill Russell are all legendary players, and even though their individual careers stood on their own, the number of championships won by each player is often used as a point of discussion.

Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and John Stockton were all great players, but their inability to win at least one championship excludes them from the company mentioned above.

Bryant, however, does deserve to be mentioned with the likes of Magic, Kareem and Jordan, and a sixth NBA title would only make that point all the more obvious.

Some of Bryant's detractors like to point at Bryant's two failures in the NBA Finals or the period of time when the stormy union between Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant dissolved.

Those were dark days indeed in Lakers history, but even considering those low points, how many other players can make the claim that they have spent more than half of their career as a participant in the NBA Finals?

It is becoming increasingly more difficult for Bryant's detractors to deny his place in history, because his game continues to diminish their arguments.

There are some people who will never recognize Bryant as an all-time top-10 player, but his career numbers suggest that he already is—a sixth NBA title would only offer further proof of that fact.