Stephen A. Smith has landed himself in hot water after giving out his top-5 NBA players of all-time.
Kobe Bryant played in the NBA for 20 years and in most of them, he was one of the best players in the league. When his career was over, he was a 5-time champion, 2-time NBA Finals MVP, 1-time NBA MVP, 15-time All-NBA team, and 12-time defensive team.
Bryant is arguably one of the best players to ever play in the NBA, but not good enough to make it on Stephen A. Smith’s top-5 list.
On his list, Smith included:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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Bill Russell.
Magic Johnson.
Here’s his explanation as to why Kobe did not make his list:
“Kobe doesn’t make the top five because Kobe was measured against MJ and MJ played the same position, had the same style of playing, MJ was number one. So for me when I think about Magic, even though Kobe was a better individual talent, Kobe didn’t lead and galvanized to the degree that Magic did. Magic was the dude that got everybody else better, that got everybody else on their game. Kobe would drop 80 on you right, but Magic would accumulate 80 by having 20 points and 20 assists and making sure that this dude and that dude got fed, and it led to 5 championships and nine title appearances.”
