Who’s better: Kobe or LeBron?

By Matt Tait     Jun 16, 2009

All right, NBA fans. He did it.

Kobe got his ring without Shaq. Many said he never would. Many doubted his ability to deliver as “The Man” for the Los Angeles Lakers.

But a year after taking LA to the Finals and losing to Paul Pierce and the Celtics, Kobe made a return trip to the big stage and walked away with some serious hardware: NBA championship trophy, Finals MVP trophy, fourth ring of his career.

Like it or not, Kobe’s back on top and well on his way to becoming one of the greatest the game has ever seen.

And that brings me to the topic of this blog. Now that the NBA season is over and all of the ties to former Jayhawks must be put to bed for the offseason, I wanted to leave you with the one debate that has dominated NBA chat rooms and chatter boxes all season.

Who’s better: Kobe or LeBron?

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I pose this question as a way to start a healthy debate. I won’t bog you down with the statistics that any of us can look up on some website or another. I won’t remind you what Kobe’s done in his career or what LeBron has yet to do.

All I’ll ask is the simple question… Who’s better? Kobe or LeBron?

To get things going, I’ll give you my answer.

Regardless of age, mileage or any of those other extenuating factors that come into play here, I’m going with Kobe.

I acknowledge that LeBron, all 6-8, 250 pounds of him, is a superior athlete to Kobe. But a freak athlete does not a basketball player make.

LeBron’s good. Real good. He has a chance to be great. But he’s not yet.

Kobe is. He’s won at the highest level. He’s played the part of role player and go-to guy. He’s been a wide-eyed rookie full of bounce and brass and a cut-throat veteran with an assassin’s eye. Every step of the way he’s been a basketball player in the truest sense of the term.

His jump shot, even when it’s off, is pure. His handles have improved in each of his 12 seasons. His court vision and competitveness have skyrocketed in recent years. He’s even become a better teammate and a more patient superstar.

Kobe might not be the pass-first playmaker that all of his critics demand he should be. He might not defer to teammates as much as he should and might not fill up the stat sheet in assists, rebounds or steals the way people would like. But in the one stat that matters most — winning — Kobe gets the job done year in and year out.

I don’t care who Kobe Bryant is as a person. I don’t tune in to see him interact with friends or take his wife out on dates. I watch him because of his ability to play ball. And, from where I sit, there’s not a better player on the planet.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.