Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
During the recent unveiling of the Kobe Bryant statue, former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson recalled a meeting between a young Kobe and Michael Jordan. Jackson recalled that the first thing Bryant said to Jordan after sitting down was that he could beat him one-on-one.
It’s always been Kobe’s goal to surpass Jordan, and the Lakers legend has been trying to achieve that goal his entire career. If he didn’t, he’d be very close, but one of Bryant’s closest teammates revealed that at one point Bryant claimed he had done better.
On the latest episode of the LADE Podcast, Lamar Odom talked about this moment during the 2009-10 season. Odom said that after Bryant hit another stunning game-winning shot, he walked into the bus and said he was better than Jordan:
“I’ll be honest with you. We were on the bus one night, I think it was after he hit his ninth game-winning shot against Milwaukee. (Kobe) got on the bus and was in front of me and Phil. , he was like ‘Yo, I’m better than Mike.’ I was like ‘What?!’ and he was like, ‘Yo, I’m better than Mike. ” I was like, “Bean, you’ve come a long way with this. “I was like ‘What, you’re better than Mike? Is that how you feel? If he really said that, you know he felt it. He was out nine times that season. Nine walks,’ three. Two, one…’ He played nine in one season.”
Odom’s numbers dropped slightly because Bryant hit seven game-winning shots that season, but it’s still an incredible number for a year. What’s more important is that Kobe was full of confidence at that moment, because he could be said to be at his peak, not only dominating in personal performance, but also leading the Lakers to consecutive NBA championships.
Saying this in front of Jackson must have been intentional, as Phil may be the only one who can truly judge the greatness between the two. But as Odom said, if Kobe said that, he definitely meant it.
Only a handful of players have reached Jordan’s level of greatness, but there’s no doubt that the Lakers icon is one of them.
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The Lakers recently unveiled the long-awaited Kobe Bryant statue outside Crypto.com Arena, but with it came more news. During the ceremony, Vanessa Bryant announced that three statues of Kobe Bryant will be erected in the arena and two more statues will be built.
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