NBA Fact or Fiction: Kobe Bryant Is Still Better Than LeBron James

Kobe or LeBron?

It's truly amazing how two names can spark an incessant debate, but it can.

These two remarkable athletes have entertained us for years and they are the best players of our generation. 

But who's better?

The answer to this question if we're looking at the grand scheme of things is easily Kobe Bryant. He's the more accomplished athlete. He has five championship rings compared to LeBron James' goose egg. He's achieved more and he's done it for a longer period of time. 

Until LeBron wins a championship, it's going to be very difficult to say that he has the better legacy than Kobe.

That being said, the question of Kobe being better than LeBron right now is not even debatable anymore.

LeBron is the best player in the league and has been for several years now.

Let's start off with statistics.

Looking at LeBron's career stats, it's easy to see that he's outperformed Kobe in almost every category. Let's take a look:

Name	PPG	RPG	APG	BLK	STL	TO
LeBron James	27.7	7.1	7.0	0.9	1.7	3.3
Kobe Bryant	25.3	5.3	4.7	0.5	1.5	2.9

Only in turnovers does Kobe have the edge. So what do we make of these numbers?

One can argue that LeBron's numbers are better because it was pretty much a one-man show in Cleveland during his years with the Cavaliers.

This may be true, but it is also important to see that LeBron finished second in the league last season in scoring despite having Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on his team. His numbers declined but he was still among the league leaders in points despite having more talent on his team.

Also, if someone is going to argue that Kobe has five more rings than LeBron while saying the only reason why LeBron has better stats than Kobe because of the fact that Cleveland was a one-man show, then they are being hypocrites. LeBron didn't have any rings up until he bolted to Miami largely because of his teammates. 

LeBron will get his rings. Give it some time. In his first year with Miami without any chemistry with his teammates he was able to get the Heat passed Boston and Chicago. His Heat are now the league favorites.

Finally, teams win championships, not players. So saying Kobe is better than LeBron right now in terms of championship rings is foolish. LeBron needs a few to match Kobe's legacy but he doesn't need one to be considered the better player.

Another advantage LeBron has over Kobe is that he was able to do more with less when they both had horrible teammates. On a team with Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, James led the Cavs to the Finals in 2007. 

In the same year when Kobe had guys like Smush Parker, Luke Walton, and Lamar Odom as his supporting cast, the Lakers finished seventh in the West and failed to get out of the first round. In fact, the year after Shaq left the Lakers didn't even make the playoffs. It wasn't until Pau Gasol came to the Lakers when they finally bounced back.

People seem to forget LeBron's unbelievable performance against the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals when he scored the last 25 points in Game 5 at Detroit. The game went to double overtime and LeBron singlehandedly won the game for the Cavs.

And even with this, people continue to say "don't ask LeBron to give you change for a dollar because he won't give you a fourth quarter back."

With that comes the clutch factor. As Henry Abbott of ESPN highlighted last year, Kobe is generally considered the king of clutch, but the numbers show otherwise. Kobe Bryant has only made 36 of his 115 attempts in situations where the Lakers are trailing by one or two points, or tied, in the final 24 seconds of regular season and playoff games. That's only 31.3 percent.

LeBron has made 33.3 of his shots in the same situation.

"Oh, but Kobe has had multiple defenders on him during those shots."

You don't think LeBron has had defenders in his face either in late game situations? 

And in the playoffs, Chasing23.com points out that Kobe is just 7 for 25 in the these situations (28 percent).

So Kobe being the most amazing clutch player is actually a myth and LeBron being absolutely the worst clutch player of all time is also a myth. People overreact based on what they see.

It's true that LeBron has not played well in the Finals. Kobe is probably the better NBA Finals player. But one can't call bash LeBron for not being a clutch player when he's the guy who hit big clutch shots against Boston and Chicago this year to lead them to the Finals.

LeBron is actually pretty reliable late in games. In 5 in 5 situations (five minutes left with no team up by more than five), LeBron has a 47.3 field goal percentage. On the other hand Dwyane Wade has a 37.5 field goal percentage in the same situation. 

These are actual numbers and stats. They clearly show that LeBron is better late than Kobe has been. LeBron has also done more with less and his overall career statistics are better than Kobe's. 

Shouldn't the drop off in the Cavaliers win total clearly exemplify who the more valuable player is as well? The Cavs couldn't buy a win this season and ended up getting the No. 1 overall pick.  

With all that being said, Kobe is still one of the greatest players of all time. However, LeBron's just having a better career. He'll get his rings eventually and looking back to this debate 20 years later, LeBron will probably be considered the better player.