Kobe Bryant, who was once an idol of LeBron James, shared a close relationship with him. Despite not openly speaking about each other, two of the league’s superstars shared a very respectful and candid relationship with each other. When, in his declining years, Kobe was asked why he did not cut his pay to improve the team, he had a perfect reply. Bryant was highly professional and thought that the stars should be paid according to their value. It was for this reason that he said in 2014 that in an open, free market, LeBron was worth $75 million.
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Black Mamba and LBJ faced each other 22 times in the league. All the games between them were regular season games, and they never faced each other in the NBA Finals. LeBron holds the edge both in terms of the number of games won and the average individual points scored against the rival team. Of the 22 games between them, Bryant won six with the Lakers, and the rest (16) were won by ‘the King’s’ team.
Number 23 (28.2 ppg) also outscored Kobe (24.6 ppg) in terms of individual numbers. James was better in rebounds, assists, and blocks per game. But when they met for the last time, it was something special.
Kobe Bryant gifted LeBron James his game-worn shoes after his last game in Cleveland
Bryant was playing his last season as an NBA player, and players around the league wanted to get their hands on his signed shoes. After playing the final game in Cleveland, Bryant made sure that he gave LeBron a gift. He signed and gave James his game-worn shoes with a message for the King.
LeBron seemed like he was waiting for the moment. “I need those. I need those for the case. For sure,” excited LeBron said while he rubbed his hands, ready to take the shoes.
This was not the first time the five-time NBA champion had gifted the Lakers star his shoes. He said that in 2002, during All-Star week, Kobe had gifted him one of his Adidas shoes.
Before LeBron was drafted, Shaquille O’Neal didn’t support high school players
One of the things that united James and Kobe was the trajectory of their NBA careers. Both superstars joined the league directly from high school and didn’t attend college at all. Directly out of high school, both stars were under immense pressure to prove themselves and for sure would have succumbed to the outside pressure. What separates these two basketball savants is their capability to rise higher when the stakes are high.
Shaquille O’Neal, a former teammate of both Kobe and LeBron, once wrote in his book “Shaq Talks Back” that kids should not be directly recruited out of high school. He also claimed that kids had become materialistic and should at least go to college before joining the league.
Shaq wrote this two years before LeBron was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers right out of high school.
