If you’ve watched Lakers games recently, you’ve most likely noticed that Kobe Bryant is not playing well. It’s gotten bad that even Bryant admits that he’s been terrible. But if you ask LeBron James about Kobe’s performance, he’ll give you a different perspective.
LeBron James does not think Kobe Bryant sucks
On Monday, James told the Akron Beacon Journal that age is not what’s bringing down Kobe, it’s merely another “challenge to himself” that he has to overcome:
I asked James about Bryant’s struggles this season and James laughed. “What I see is a challenge to himself,” James told me. “It has zero to do with his age. Zero. I think at one point in my career, in my 20s, I felt like I sucked. It’s all a personal challenge. I know him. He knows he don’t suck. C’mon man, it’s Kobe Bryant. But it’s a personal challenge to him. That’s all that is.”
It’s apparent that LeBron still reveres Kobe as an opponent, a peer and a fan. But at some point, both of them are going to have to leave the sport. The Akron Beacon Journal asked James if he’ll keep playing basketball as long as he can, like many other athletes who keep playing “past the end of their productiveness”:
“All the respective greats try to play at the highest level they can,” James said. “I’m going to give it my all obviously until I can’t. One thing I won’t be, I don’t ever believe or think that I’ll be an embarrassment to my fans or my family.”
Time will tell what happens to both of these NBA greats.
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SB Nation presents: The time Kobe asked a 10-year-old for advice
