“You can’t have a basketball conversation without Kobe Bryant”: Allen Iverson speaks fondly about the Black Mamba and his influence on Basketball

Kobe Bryant has influenced many young players of today – he was looked up to by his peers like Allen Iverson.

Allen Iverson vs Kobe Bryant – a matchup that got many tongues wagging in the early 2000s. While they battled fiercely on the court, the respect they maintained off it was admirable. The fierce competitors knew how difficult they were making the lives of their competition, and they had nothing but love. On the day of Kobe’s jersey retirement ceremony, AI wore the iconic photo in which Bryant had just beaten him in the finals.

The pair were mesmerizing to watch. The only time they ever played together was the All-Star game of 2008. Two shooting guards entered the league together, and the only game they played on the same team was a glorified friendly. It is a damn shame that they never played longer as teammates but maybe that is what each person needed. The competition they had while being on the opposite ends of the floor could not be replicated while on the same end.

“He is basketball. You can’t have a basketball conversation without Kobe Bryant.”  The Answer said, and that is nothing but the truth. For any Basketball fan who started watching the game 15-20 years ago, Kobe Bryant was their parents’ Michael Jordan.

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Kobe Bryant is an inspiration for the work he did on the Basketball court – outside it, he had his controversies

Like Charles Barkley said in his iconic commercial, no sports athlete should be a role model in life. They can be an inspiration on how you model your career and game, but do not take their personal life into the picture. Many of them have deranged lives and want to live out their fantasies because of the strict regimen they have to follow. Take Dennis Rodman as the perfect example. The man has done everything under the sun, that should not be taken as an inspiration by a regular person.

Athletes are forced to live a certain lifestyle for years on end – and when they get the freedom, they tend to freak out. Kobe may have stayed strict his whole life, but his personal life was in shambles. He almost got divorced, his relationship with his father was strained, and there were allegations about his misdemeanor with a woman. His love story may have had a sweet remnant, but it was not all rosy during his time alive.

An obsession for being the best comes with its price – Kobe paid a lot of them. But he did rise to the very top and even made his much more talented peers sit up and take notice. If only Shaquille O’Neal or Allen Iverson had the work ethic he did – they would be undisputedly the best players in their positions.

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