Kobe fine with LeBron’s next pass
COSTA MESA, Calif. – He wanted to win at everything. He found sources of motivation to ensure he did. Despite having those characteristics, though, Kobe Bryant’s competitive nature did not cloud his reasoned perspective.
So with Lakers star LeBron James (33,599) needing just 45 points to surpass Bryant for third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list (33,643), the Lakers’ luminary does not view James’ upcoming accomplishment with any frustration.
“I don’t know if people want that or want to have this kind of contentious thing where you don’t want records to be broken or people there to surpass you,” Bryant told USA TODAY Sports. “You should be happy for the person that comes after you to be able to surpass things that you’ve done. It’s kind of juvenile to think or to behave any other way.”
James is on pace to pass Bryant when the Lakers play the 76ers on Saturday.
Although Bryant described his matchups with James as “competitive,” the Lakers’ star has since rooted for James for a few reasons. One, Bryant has often praised the NBA’s current and past stars for their accolades. Two, James is in his second season playing for Bryant’s former team after spending most of his NBA career in Cleveland and Miami. Bryant warmly embraced James when he recently attended two Lakers home games with his daughter, Gianna.
“He welcomed me here with open arms,” James said. “Just to have that support from one of the greatest Lakers ever to play, it’s just special to me.”
What James has done lately also has been special.
In his 17th NBA season, the 35-yearold has averaged 25.2 points on 49.1% shooting and a league-leading 11.0 assists. He also has logged a league-leading nine triple doubles, which only trails Magic Johnson’s franchise-record 13 for a single season. This happened a year after missing 27 games because of a sore left groin and missing the postseason for the first time in 13 years.
“He’s coming in this year with a chip on his shoulder obviously because of what everybody was saying that he’s washed up,” Bryant said. “When I first came into the league, the average age was like 33 or 32. Now that you’re 35, (the narrative), is ‘You’re washed up and you’re dying.’ It’s kind of silly. But I think he’s doing a fantastic job.”
James’ durability is a key to his success.He has missed two games this season, one because of a thoracic muscle strain and another because of flu-like symptoms. Otherwise, James has stayed healthy by averaging a careerlow 34.8 minutes per game and staying disciplined with icing, massage and sleeping.
“The biggest lesson to be pulled from, if you’re a kid and looking at what he’s accomplishing, is the consistency of work,” Bryant said. “It’s not, ‘I’ll work hard for one summer and I’ll take another summer off.’ It was just very consistent with how he takes care of his body.”
Bryant partly is responsible for James having such discipline. When the two played together on the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic teams, Bryant spent part of that time talking with James about training and practice habits. Since then, Lakers star Anthony Davis has observed the “little things” James has done to maximize his longevity. In recent years, James has become more consistent with his sleeping habits and has reduced his alcohol intake. “It’s by example. But I’ve been an open book for my teammates and certain guys that I haven’t been teammates with on how to maximize your career,” James said. “Just trying to have your body in a position where you’re available to your teammates as much as you can.”
Bryant did not have such a luxury toward the end of his 20-year career with the Lakers (1996-2016). He missed a combined 139 games his final three seasons because of overlapping injuries to his left Achilles tendon, left knee and right shoulder. That reality reduced Bryant’s chances of eclipsing Karl Malone (36,928) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) on the NBA’s scoring list. It also did not help that Bryant started a combined seven games his first two seasons.
Bryant did not lament those circumstances. He only expressed regret that he and James never faced off in the NBA Finals, something he likened to when former Lakers star Magic Johnson faced former Bulls star Michael Jordan in 1991.
“Competition is about competition,” Bryant said. “It’s like competing with things that you can control. If you’re competing as somebody mano a mano, it’s different. Of course, you want to win. But if it’s things that aren’t in your control?”
He also referenced his time overseeing Granity Studios, a multimedia storytelling company that helped him produce “Dear Basketball,” which won an Academy Award in 2018 for Best Animated Short Film.
“I can’t control whether you win an Oscar or not. You do the best that you can and you make the story as good as you can make it and then you sit down and you just chill,” Bryant said. “If our name wasn’t getting called in that envelope, I would’ve been happy for the group that won because I know the amount of work that goes into that and respect that.”