Kobe Bryant vs. Dwyane Wade: Will Wade Even Be a Top 10 All-Time Player?

There are some people who feel that Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade has passed Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant as the league's best scoring guard, and although that subject is a matter of opinion, the historical gap between Wade and Bryant is cold, hard fact.

Wade held a slight statistical edge over Bryant in most categories last season, but there was not enough of a difference in their numbers to prove that Wade was a better player.

However, in the eyes of NBA history, Bryant is far ahead of Wade by most any historical measure.

Bryant has scored nearly twice as many career points as Wade, he has won four more championships, one more league and Finals MVP award and not to mention, he has the edge in first team All-NBA selections and all-defensive first team selections.

All of that forms a very strong case for Bryant, but the fact that Kobe is already considered a top 10 all-time player by many people and has a strong chance to finish even higher up the rankings closes the case.

Where would you rank Wade right now as an all-time player? And considering Wade's production over the first eight seasons of his career, does he have a realistic chance at covering the distance?

Even if Wade managed to maintain his scoring average for the next seven seasons, it's still unlikely that he will ever surpass Bryant on the NBA' scoring list, where Bryant is currently sixth all time.

And although the addition of LeBron James improves Wade's chances of winning more NBA championships, it also diminishes the number of individual accolades he will likely receive in the future.

In fact, a strong case can be made that Wade is no longer even Miami's top player.

Last season, James was named the NBA's MVP and he was also named to the All-NBA first team as well as the league's defensive first team.

Wade did not make the first team cut in either instance, and although it can be argued that individual honors are a poor way to measure a player, they do matter when making historical comparisons.

Also, even though the Miami Heat should theoretically win a few NBA championships with Wade and James, that doesn't mean they will, as the Dallas Mavericks proved last season.

NBA championships are not easy to come by, and it would be ridiculous to assume that Wade will capture four more titles when he has yet to win his second.

In a recent article, I posed the question on whether or not James or Wade could pass Bryant on the all-time player's list, and as I expected, the majority of the comments suggested that James had a better chance than Wade.

But there were a few readers who implied that Wade was already close to passing Bryant, and it wouldn't really take much for him to do it.

There is overwhelming statistical evidence that points to this as wishful thinking on the part of Wade and Miami Heat fans.

In fact, a more reasonable goal for Wade may be to cement his status as a top 10 all-time player, because to even be considered historically close to Bryant, Wade must first establish himself in that conversation.