Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson have been a topic of debate in the NBA for decades. Bryant learned an essential lesson from Johnson during their first meeting before starting his NBA career, which he shared with him during Zoom sessions about business opportunities, empowerment, social injustice, and basketball. Many former Lakers players favor Johnson, who also appreciated Bryant as a friend and teammate.
Magic Johnson, a former Lakers legend, praised Bryant’s use of his free time after the end of his basketball career in 2016. Bryant, who is the most popular Laker player ever, followed a path carved by Johnson, and his greatness followed a path carved by him.
Bryant’s career has spanned 20 years and is one of the most storied in NBA history. Johnson believes that Bryant’s early failure as an 18-year-old pushed him toward a path of greatness. He was called the “greatest” Los Angeles Lakers player of all time by Johnson as his number eight and 24 shirts were retired.
Kobe Bryant came to the NBA in 1996 but never got the opportunity to share the NBA court with Johnson, who retired a few months prior. As a rookie, Magic needed to gain more knowledge of him, and Kobe had questions regarding his own skills.
Despite playing well together on the court, the pair had an acrimonious relationship at times in the locker room. In 2000, Bryant played 79 games, around 40 minutes per game, and helped the Lakers to a 67 win championship season. Johnson believes much of the debate centers around Michael Jordan and LeBron James, but even now, Kobe belongs in that conversation.
📹 What if Kobe and Jordan Played Together?
What if Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant were teammates? How many championships would they win? And most importantly, who …
📹 Kobe Passes Magic for Steals Record
Kobe Bryant passes Magic Johnson as the Lakers` all-time steals leader. Visit http://www.nba.com/video for more highlights.
This was one of the best simulations I’ve ever seen. This had me captivated all the way to the end especially since you kept the one season out until the end. It was good to see them lose to Shaq and then come back and not even see have a competitive finals. It’s hard for me to see MJ taking a back seat but at the same time he never had the talent that Kobe was on his team.
Have you thought about doing a what if Michael Jordan played with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Remember in Hakeem’s book he states that “…in 1984, the Portland Trail Blazers offered the Rockets the No. 2 overall pick in the draft as well as Drexler for star center Ralph Sampson.” I think that’ll be a great article
Kobe is an all-time great no matter what and in any era because of his skill, work ethic, and motivation. However, what can’t be taken into account by a computer is how much Jordan’s game influenced Kobe’s game. Would he have the midrange game if Jordan hadn’t shown it to be so effective, etc? Their games would have been different and, possibly, complementary if they started their careers together. RIP Mamba.
They would win ZERO rings. Kobe is wildly inefficient and needs 25 shots to be effective. Jordan would never play Robin to Kobe’s Batman and this would cause tension immediately. Kobe would be better with a scorer/passer like Magic, LeBron or Joker. Jordan would be better with a well rounded #2 player like KD, Pierce or Kawai.
Just before Christmas perfect! but sometimes we forget the Real meaning of Christmas, Christmas is the birth of Jesus that came here we sinned all of us and we deserve hell but The son of God came and died By love for us so that just By believing that he is God and died for Our sins we May have eternal Life, God bless you ❤
The paradox here is why this could not have ever happened and why it dosen’t make sense. Kobe Bryant became Kobe Bryant because of Michael Jordan. There ain’t no way Kobe bests MJ because MJ needed to succeed and been seen to have succeeded by Bryant in order for Bryant to reverse engineer MJ’s style of play in order for Byrant to become a more refined but slightly less greater MJ prototype. You can dupe skillset you can match someone’s physical prowess but what you’ll never be able to do is identically match someone elses heart.
What if Webber didn’t call that timeout? What if A.I. was taller and saved his money? What if Kobe simply left early to beat traffic? What if MJ got a limo ride for his father? What if Ja shot an opposing fan by “accident?” What I’d Draymond Green wasn’t a fake bully? What if Bird hired some dudes from a parking lot to do his mother’s ground work? What if Len Bias said no to drugs? What if KG had help in Minnesota? What if Zion’s best basketball wasn’t against high school children? What if Kemp stayed with the Sonics? What if Karl malone was put away for rape or stayed in the news throughout his career. What if Rose, McGrady Granger and Hill NEVER got a serious injury? What if David stern dropped dead, live on tv during draft night?
I gotta say, this is one of the coolest articles I’ve seen yet. I’m a suns fan so that was heartbreaking to see lmao. As a kid I had to witness Jordon beat my suns in the finals, and it still hurts to this day and I’m now 41! Not to mention that I had to watch Kobe kill my suns for years after that! 🤦♂️ but I can honestly say that I got to watch two of the greatest basketball players of all time. Good stuff man.
This shows that Kobe is way better than Jordon in terms of mentality.That means is Kobe better than both LeBron and Micheal??Damn,cuz in the previous article when med uploaded LeBron and mj playing for the bulls and LeBron was alone the bulls cuz of Jordon’s retirement he struggled to win in the in the finals but for Kobe it was an extremely easy victory without Jordon.
I came across this cause it was recommended to watch and let me tell u, this was a well made article. I’m a Chicago Bulls fan for life and to see this article, what if Kobe Bryant teamed up with Michael Jordan? Chicago Bulls would have won more championships but it’s hard to tell. 😊 Kobe Bryant being the best player, well no complaints here. But I will still be a Michael Jordan supporter even though I’ve given Kobe Bryant his props.
As good as this article was, I don’t think having Kobe play Alone at the end is it gangster. I understand he took a year off but the Title is them playing together… which means Kobe should’ve took a year off as well. Otherwise the title should’ve been what if Kobe was drafted to the Bulls with MJ? I see it as MJ won at the end, but Kobe beat him due to the extra year
— Don’t need to watch it. Merry Christmas. Thumbs up. Neither would have been as good. Neither would have tolerated it. The best want to play against the best. That’s a champion, and Michael (The GOAT) and Kobe (2nd best player to ever play the game) were champions. Look at disgraces like Lebron and his super teams to prove me wrong.
Suggestions put Kobe and steph in the draft put Michael and steph in the draft put Lebron and Kobe and Michael in the draft put lebron and Larry in the draft put steph and Kobe on the same team put Michael and steph on the same team put Michael Kobe and lebron on the same team and put hardens career in reverse put kd and lebron in the draft
Scotties legacy got shafted. I genuinely think they could’ve won the year jordan retired. But instead of ADDING a scorer to compensate, they just ran it back. They were still the best team in the league when MJ left. Scottie gets a knock for not winning without Mj. Meanwhile MJ never winning without scottie isnt even a thought. And after the bulls run scotties backcwas cooked
Kobe, the guy who took a backseat to Shaq all those years in LA, is getting drafted as a high school player, sat behind Eddie Jones in real life, scored 7.6, 15.4, and finally 19.9 in his third year, is going to get ultra-competitive Jordan to let him have the same number of shots, to the point that they are both averaging 18 points their first year? Jordan lets Kobe outscore him enough to beat him out in MVPs? Kobe, who for his first two years in real life shot 42 and 43 percent? I love your stuff but Kobe would have looked more like Scottie Pippen playing alongside Jordan. The real question would have been if he did better than Pippen in his one chance at a championship alone while Jordan was playing baseball.
Great article. However i contend that you didnt include the fact that Kobe came into the league raw as hell and actually struggled his first 3 seasons averaging 13.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. You had him smoking coming out the gate. Id like to see it with that scenario incorporated. Next article is do Bulls drafting Kobe using Jordans career arc. Id like to see hiwnit might of been if Kobe was on the Bulls with Pippen and Vice versa MJ ending up in LA with Shaq
Once Kobe reaches All-Star level, it is over for the rest of the league. All Jordan needed was an All-Star level Pippen to start winning championships. Kobe is a better defender and scorer than Pippen and much stronger mentally. That means no migraine game in gm7 vs the Pistons in ’90 or missing almost the whole game 6 in ’89 after Laimbeer elbowed Pippen in the face. Kobe doesn’t miss those games and the Bulls don’t lose those series.
More realistically, what if Kobe and his father didn’t have a hair up their ass and Kobe gave the Sixers the OK in the draft? They already took Iverson 1st overall. They had three 2nd rounders, two being really high. They move on from Stackhouse as they did, and you have Iverson, Kobe and an insane amount of cap space. There’s a reason they were in the finals shortly there after.
It wouldn’t have worked, because both guys are Alpha Males and they both want to be the man. They would be fighting with each other on and off the court to exert their dominance. If Kobe fought all the time with Shaq, just think how much more he would have fought with Jordan about getting his touches. I can hear it now, Jordan yelling at Kobe because he was wide open and Kobe jacked up a 3 and missed. Kobe would do the same when Jordan misses a shot. Phil Jackson would try to use his Zen Magic to try to get them to play together by saying their is no I in team, and Jordan would retort but there is one in win, so make Kobe pass me the ball. Kobe will respond by jacking up 20 3 pointers to show that he is the Alpha Male, and they would come to blows in the locker room.
Wouldn’t work, they are great players, but they are both Alpha. Takes the right people to make it happen. You see it all the time where a team stacks a bunch of #1 players from different teams all together on 1 team and its rarely works until they get a few filler players. You dont win w/ only offense, so no matter how many points you score it takes more than that to make an excellent team. Oh they wouldnt beat the Celts from the 80s. or Lakers either.
This is a great vid but I still give the goat title to MJ. Especially because I feel he won the race because it would not be far to count the season that MJ wasn’t in the league at the moment because he wasn’t there to defend himself and whos to say if he played that year that those titles would have gone to him.
But Kobe hasnt really forced things that much this season. Hes having his most efficient start to a season ever and taking 6 less shots than last year while almost scoring the same amount of points. Hes not ball hogging. Hes looking for better shots. I saw many great passes yesterday against the jazz from kobe to open teammates, but they just didnt knock it down so it didnt show up in the box score.
1. Kobe said in an interview: It’s hilarious to watch people question the offensive system within only 2 games into the season. It’s obviously going to take time. It’s not the coach’s fault. 2. The biggest problem why we are losing…is the bench! They’re the reason we lost a year before and the year before that…our bench is not cutting it. 3. They should run the offense through Dwight Howard yes. I agree. Steve Nash should be pushing the ball and running pick and rolls more.
If you were a heat fan, I would say to you, look at 2011. The Heat started off very horribly, yet they reached the NBA finals and pushed the Mavericks to 6 games. If you were a Celtics fan, the 2008 Celtics squad struggled early in the playoffs, yet they still won the championship. Conclusion? Its way too early to judge
40 minutes a game? Where on earth are you getting your numbers from? Nash, Kobe and Dwight only had one game each where they played 30+ minutes a game, they didn’t reach 30. Kobe missed 3 games and Dwight missed 6. They were’nt trying to lose, but no team tries to win in the preseason. It’s sole purpose is for fine tuning plays the coach wants to incorporate into their playbook, and getting 11th and 12th men playing time so they can earn a roster spot. Nothing should ever be taken away from it
just to let you young bloods who just started perusal basketball, back in 2007 the dallas mavericks started off with 0-4 and ended with a season record 67-15. It really doesnt matter as long as you develope ur game and chemistry along the way. Just sayin…but they lost to the golden states first round so it didnt matter.
What the Lakers should do, to stop losing: 1.) Fire Mike Brown (His offensive plays aren’t visible, every time I watch the Lakers play it’s like they play a random offense. 2.) Hire younger players like Jodie Meeks, and fire Steve Blake (The Lakers don’t need scoring Point Guards). 3.) Give more possessions to Dwight Howard. (Kobe Bryant will be able to score easier when all the attention is with Dwight Howard).
I’ve been a huge Lakers fan my whole life. I’m not saying anything at all. I’ll admit that they’re doing terrible right now. I won’t blame anyone like everyone else. It’s just that they clearly have no chemistry together. Most Lakers fans find all these retarded excuses which make them look stupid which is why people hate all of us. With all the hype brought to LA we expected so much from the Lakers. Us fans are just here with nothing to do except to hate on everyone else and look dumb .
Actually, that’s not true. I’ve been a diehard Laker fan my entire life, I watch nearly every game year in and year out, and I had no problem defending the Heat when they stumbled out of the gate as I knew that it would take time and they would eventually click. Again, I grew up in LA and love the Lakers like family, but I don’t see a reason to deny objectivity. And by the way, this is not a rivalry. The only rival the Lakers have are the Celtics.
Well as a die hard fan I say there are big issues and the time to worry is now. Considering they haven’t won a game with any type of lineup since MAY and the game they did win were STRUGGLES, again big issues. I’m not saying thing can’t get better and turned around but when you’ve had access too multiple all star 7 footers and NOT know how to utilize em, again ya got big issues! Time isn’t on their sides.if they don’t get rolling this year Howard could split, then what?I hope it works out.
lol I wasnt comparing Kobe to anyone in the league…I was just stating stats because you stated a completely untrue stat, “Kobe Bryant has to the ball 30 times to get 20 points”. Did I say that just because Kobe is shooting well to start the season he is better than the rest of the league? I dont think so…
I love how that guy says that kobe doesn’t pass but is ignorant to the fact in the current active players, Kobe is listed as #7 with 5421 assists(this is not 100% up to date with the games just passing) and Kobe is 41st in LEAGUE HISTORY(Jordan is 37th) in career assists and still has games to improve that.
@BsCeltics ok bro im not a fan of boston either. Im with u the first two statements. But celtics are just having the same problem as lakers now. We know they will be playoff contestants so just leave it there. And secondly u cant disrespect that guy dude. How can u say the guy sucks when he wins the assist stat every year??
Magic vs Kobe points per game 19,5 vs 25.4 but Magic shooting 50.2% and 45.3%. Rebound Magic 7.2 vs Kobe 5,3. Assist Magic 11,2 and Kobe 4,7. Magic 3 times finals MVP vs Kobe 2 finals MVP. Magic 3 time MVP and Kobe 1 time. Magic is a better player. Just google any sports site that have a top 10 all time nba player ranking. Magic is allways ranked higher than Kobe!
It’s a terrible start of the season, but as a Lakers fan, I hope that everything will be fine with my team. The number of turnovers per game is really awful. Lakers as we see it now is not able to fight in p-offs against OKC, SAS or Heat, which now are incredibly good. But still hoping for the best. P.S. Thank you for a beautiful comment, good luck to Heat.