There are very few positions in basketball where a player with five championships, two Finals MVPs, a league MVP, 18 All-Star selections and more than 33,000 career points could possibly come in second. Shooting guard is one of them.
Kobe Bryant takes the #2 spot on my list of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history.
For 20 seasons, all spent with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe built one of the greatest careers basketball has ever seen. From teenage phenom to champion, unstoppable scorer, league MVP and eventually one of the game’s most recognizable legends, Kobe’s career became synonymous with the pursuit of greatness.
Straight Out of High School
Kobe entered the NBA unlike most superstars of his generation. He skipped college entirely and declared for the 1996 NBA Draft straight out of Lower Merion High School. The Charlotte Hornets selected him with the 13th overall pick before trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers.
He was only 17 years old when he was drafted. Kobe wasn’t immediately handed the keys to the franchise, but his potential quickly became impossible to ignore. By his second season, he was already an NBA All-Star despite primarily coming off the bench. The Lakers had found their next superstar.
Three Straight Championships
Kobe’s rise coincided with the dominance of Shaquille O’Neal, and together they created one of the most devastating duos basketball has ever seen. Beginning in 2000, the Lakers won three consecutive NBA championships, becoming the last NBA franchise to three-peat.
Shaq was the dominant force in the middle, but Kobe’s importance grew with every season. By the 2000-01 season, Kobe was averaging 28.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game while also establishing himself as one of basketball’s premier perimeter defenders.
That Lakers team went an unbelievable 15-1 during the 2001 postseason. By 23 years old, Kobe Bryant was already a three-time NBA champion, and somehow the greatest individual years of his career were still ahead of him.
81 Points
January 22, 2006. It’s impossible to tell Kobe Bryant’s story without talking about what happened that night against the Toronto Raptors.
Kobe scored 81 points, which remains the second-highest scoring performance in NBA history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game.
The Lakers actually trailed Toronto by 18 points during the third quarter. Kobe responded by scoring 55 points in the second half and dragging Los Angeles to a 122-104 victory. He shot 28-of-46 from the field, made seven three-pointers and went 18-of-20 from the free-throw line.
It wasn’t his only ridiculous scoring performance, either. Kobe scored 62 points through three quarters against Dallas earlier that same season, outscoring the entire Mavericks team 62-61 by himself before sitting out the fourth quarter. In 2007, he produced four consecutive 50-point games.
At his offensive peak, there was virtually nothing Kobe couldn’t do.
The MVP
Kobe won his first scoring title in 2005-06 after averaging 35.4 points per game and followed it by leading the league in scoring again the next season. But the award he had spent years chasing finally arrived in 2008.
Kobe averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, leading the Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference and winning his first and only NBA MVP award. Los Angeles reached the NBA Finals but lost to the Boston Celtics.
Kobe would get another chance.
Back on Top
The Lakers returned to the Finals in 2009, this time facing the Orlando Magic. Kobe averaged 32.4 points, 7.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game during the series as Los Angeles won in five games. For the first time in his career, Kobe was named NBA Finals MVP.
He had proven he could lead the Lakers to a championship as their unquestioned centerpiece. Then came 2010.
The Lakers returned to the Finals for a rematch against Boston, the same franchise that had beaten them two years earlier. The series went seven games.
Kobe struggled with his shot in Game 7, but he found another way to impact the game, grabbing 15 rebounds as Los Angeles erased a second-half deficit and defeated Boston 83-79. Kobe finished the series averaging 28.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists and captured his second consecutive Finals MVP.
Five championships. And this time, the final two belonged to a Lakers team built around him.
One of the Greatest Résumés Ever
Kobe’s list of accomplishments almost doesn’t look real. He was an 18-time NBA All-Star, making the All-Star team in every season from 1998 through 2016 except the lockout-shortened 1999 season.
He earned 15 All-NBA selections, including 11 First Team honors, and made 12 NBA All-Defensive teams, tied for the most selections ever by a guard. Add in five championships, two Finals MVPs, an NBA MVP, two scoring titles and four All-Star Game MVPs, and you’re looking at one of the most decorated careers in basketball history.
Kobe finished his career with 33,643 points, which ranked third in NBA history when he retired. He was later selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Mamba Mentality
Kobe’s legacy extends beyond numbers, trophies and championships. The Black Mamba became a representation of the mentality Kobe carried throughout his career: relentless preparation, confidence, discipline and an obsession with improving his craft.
Players who came after him didn’t just copy his moves. Many studied the way he approached basketball.
Even Kobe’s final NBA game somehow became another legendary performance. At 37 years old, after two decades in the league, Kobe walked onto the court against the Utah Jazz one final time and scored 60 points, including 23 in the fourth quarter, as the Lakers came from behind to win.
Of course he did.
Kobe Bryant spent 20 years wearing purple and gold, won five championships and created enough unforgettable moments to fill several careers.
81 points. Five rings. Two Finals MVPs. Eighteen All-Star selections. More than 33,000 points. One Black Mamba.
Kobe Bryant takes the #2 spot among the greatest shooting guards in NBA history.
And there is only one man left.
Next up: #1 Michael Jordan.
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