"Never had to self proclaim himself as the “Goat” like LeBron": Fans react as Kobe Bryant's all-time NBA starting 5 video resurfaces
A video of the late Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers legend and NBA icon, resurfaced on X (formerly Twitter) on September 5. In the video, Bryant is seen doing an interview and naming his all-time starting five. He named Magic Johnson as the point guard, followed by Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Bill Russell. Bryant struggled to name the final athlete before eventually choosing Wilt Chamberlain to complete his list.
The five-time NBA champion left himself out of his all-time list, claiming that he was nowhere near the legends of the game he mentioned. Fans were left in awe by Bryant's humility and flooded the comments section with comparisons to LeBron James.
The fan who posted the video criticized the NBA's all-time leading scorer for proclaiming himself as the "GOAT" in the caption, writing:
"Kobe Bryant names his All-time NBA starting 5 and leaves himself out and pays respects to the pioneers of the game. Never had to self-proclaim himself as the “Goat” like LeBron. Kobe let his game and people do that for him!"
Other fans followed his lead and expressed similar sentiments in the comments section.
"LeBron doesn't even know who half the players Kobe named are."
"Student of the game. Kobe knows who the real goat is," one fan said.
"This is what Goats do.. Bron would be telling himself goat," another fan said.
While many fans praised Kobe Bryant for being humble, others claimed that he was never the GOAT.
"He was never in the conversation," one fan said.
"He wasn’t the goat why would he call himself that," another fan said.
"Different people, Lebron has the right to do it," one fan said.
Kobe Bryant spent 20 years in the league, dedicating his entire career to the Los Angeles Lakers. During that time, he won five NBA titles, two Finals MVP awards and one league MVP award. He was also selected to the NBA All-Star team 18 times.
Nine-time NBA All-Star names Kobe Bryant as the closest player to Michael Jordan
NIne-time NBA All-Star and Atlanta Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins appeared on the "All The Smoke" podcast where he recalled an incident with Bryant. He revealed how impressed he was to see the Lakers legend's tenacity as he played through injury. He recalled how Bryant expressed gratitude on receiving praise from the Hawks icon.
"[Bryant] looked at me, he said, 'Man, that really means a lot coming from you because a lot of the legends have told me that,'" Wilkins said. "I said, 'It's true, man. I mean, you played really on a bad Achilles, which, nobody's gonna do that.' He's the closest, to me, as a Michael-like player ever."
Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles in 2013. Despite the injury, he played through it and made a quick return to the court after undergoing surgery.