Kobe chooses LeBron as player he'd most want to play with in his prime
When Kobe Bryant was out winning five NBA championships during his 20-year run with the Los Angeles Lakers, he did so with current or future Basketball Hall-of-Fame big men working the paint in Shaquille O'Neal and Pau Gasol.
Never in his career did the Black Mamba have a superstar guard or wing to work off of, especially no one near the caliber of four-time Most Valuable Player LeBron James.
Talking with Geno Auriemma on his "Holding Court" podcast, Bryant said that if there were one player currently competing that he would have loved to have had by his side during his prime years, it would most definitely be The King.
"I think the player that would fit with me the most, I actually think would be LeBron. He’s a passer first, I’m a scorer, I’m a finisher. ‘Bron is a facilitator by nature and I’m a finisher by nature. Those two styles, I think complement each other extremely well," Bryant said.
Bryant averaged a respectable 4.7 dimes over 1,346 appearances, with a career-best 6.3 in 2013-14. Still, his scoring prowess is what fans most remember him for, not his ability to move the rock.
James is contributing a career-high 9.1 assists in his 15th season in the Association. He'd still get his fair share of points alongside Bryant, while being the more willing of the two to feed the hot hand. Bryant is a pure scorer through and through, with James capable of playing all five positions and adjusting his own game accordingly.
The two icons of the sport never did have a defining head-to-head series in the playoffs, but it's difficult to imagine the pair together at their respective peaks not utterly dominating the NBA.
- With h/t to Lakers Nation