Millions of guys play millions of basketball games every day of the week at the playground or the YMCA. But LeBron James gets $20 million a year because he can jam on all of those guys. We're always going to want to see LeBron and Kobe go at it.
Adam Carolla
I want to be a winner. But you can see Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Wayne Gretzky - that kind of people - where you can see and say yeah, this is players who win everything. I want to be in this page, too.
Alexander Ovechkin
Guys like LeBron, Chris Paul, Kobe... They all speak to me. It's just insane that all these top tier guys who have been in the All-Star game for so many years actually know who I am. I mean not in a million years did I think that Kobe would speak to me.
Andre Drummond
In high school and stuff I would watch Kobe clips.
Andrew Wiggins
The Kobe craze really annoyed me. Most of the practitioners had no real understanding of the product and were abusing it and exploiting it in terrible and ridiculous ways. Kobe beef should not be used in a hamburger. It's completely pointless.
Anthony Bourdain
I guess, if it wasn't for Jordan, there would be no LeBron or Kobe who plays like that.
Ben Simmons
I think everybody's ideal is to have a wonderful career with one franchise, like Kobe and Tim Duncan.
Blake Griffin
I grew up being a Kobe fan, of course.
Brandon Ingram
There are no other Kobe Bryants.
If I would compare anybody to Michael Jordan, it would be Kobe Bryant.
Charles Oakley
I'm much more starstruck by athletes than I am by actors, and I think I saw Kobe Bryant at a basketball party, and I just kind of froze. He's monstrous.
Chris Evans
Kobe was a legend.
D'Angelo Russell
I want to be me - and people know it's me. I don't want: 'He's trying to act like Kobe' or 'His answers are like something Kobe would've said.' Nah. If it's me, I'm going to say it.
For me it's just amazing that I grew up watching Tim Duncan and KG and Kobe and Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson and all those guys and now it's like, 'Man, I can't believe they actually got old.' It's like they actually walked away. It's crazy to think about, but the game has to keep moving.
Damian Lillard
In my 20s, I could just power through stuff and be fine, but now, in your 40s? It's kind of like Kobe Bryant. He plays basketball a little bit differently than he did when he first started out.
Daniel Wu
Michael, to me, he was an assassin. He was one of those guys that prepared himself extremely well and was relentless in his attacking. And there are a few guys who have that mentality. I think Kobe Bryant has that type of mentality, and LeBron has that type of mentality.
David Robinson
At the end of the day, the only person to have a better Kobe sneaker game than me is Kobe himself.
DeMar DeRozan
I played against Kobe a lot when I was in high school during the summers, even in college, just being that guy in L.A. coming up. He always gave me advice here and there, and even the smallest things stuck with me. I watched every single thing that Kobe did, every game, every move. He made me a student of the game.
In my head, I'm a big Kobe fan.
Derek Carr
I seen an interview with Kobe; he said what separated him from a lot of people was everyone thought 30 points was a lot. He said he never set himself a limit, and that always sticks in my head. He said he'd score 100 if he could. So he never had a limit, I don't put a limit on anything.
Devin Booker
I think there's a lot of different ways to win. You've seen teams that win championships with a super-duper star like Kobe Bryant. Those championship teams with Michael Jordan certainly had a great, great player.
The basketball great Kobe Bryant started his own venture-capital firm. LeBron James has rebranded himself as not just an athlete but also an investor and entrepreneur.
I grew up watching Kobe Bryant.
Guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, they'll take bad criticism in a good way.
Kobe Bryant, to me, is still the best basketball player in my mind. He played with me and he was in my era. I still love him to death. He's a little brother to me.
I would never have wanted to play with Magic Johnson, I would never have wanted to play with Michael Jordan, I would never have wanted to play with Karl Malone or John Stockton in my prime. We wanted to play against the Shaqs, the Kobes.
Obviously, Kobe is one of the greatest players to ever play the game.
A lot of players will tell you, 'When I was a kid, I watched Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron, Magic, and I wanted to be just like them.' For me, it wasn't like that at all.
Kobe Bryant is my favorite basketball player. He takes risks. He goes for the shot. He isn't cautious with whatever he does.
Kobe never got complacent. He always wanted more. And I think, ultimately, that's going to be his legacy.
I love LeBron, but Kobe was the first player I actually considered my favorite.
I've always been a Kobe fan; he's one of my favorite players.
Kobe was obsessed with the game of basketball.
I would get mad if Kobe was like, 'I'm not going to shoot that much tonight.' No, no, no, that's your gift. The people want to see you do what you're going to do.
Kobe is Kobe. He is one of the best to ever play this game. Given the opportunity, he can embarrass you.
Kobe enjoys that situation. Stepping up and making the big basket or being involved in a key play.
Kobe Bryant demands his teammates to be the best every night, and he's not afraid to challenge them. He's not afraid to challenge them publicly, he's not afraid to challenge them in the locker room, and that's what you need from a leader.
Five years before my accident in 2003, you saw Kobe and Shaq pull up to games on bikes. Michael Jordan owned a racing team. So it wasn't that weird that I was on a motorcycle, even though it was against team rules. You've got to live your life, you know? But yeah, I made a dumb choice.
When I was, like, 4 or 5, I'd just always tell - my mom would ask me what I wanted to be when I got older. And I would just be like, 'I wanna be Kobe.' She'd be like, 'You wanna be in the NBA?' 'No, like, I wanna be Kobe.'
Kobe Bryant was the reason I started playing basketball - always was and will be my favorite player of all time. I love the way he could get his shot off, his footwork down in the post, just his determination to be the best player.
All I used to want to do was shoot fadeaways like Kobe because he was my favorite player.
I've been watching Kobe ever since I can remember.
Meeting Kobe, it was of the greatest feelings ever.
Every since I started playing basketball, I wanted to be just like Kobe. To get to see him play in person, and to meet him, was just a dream come true.
I don't want to see Kobe Bryant ever leave. If he was 100 years old and still playing, I'd be happy.
Any free agent that would be afraid to play with Kobe Bryant is probably a loser, and I'm glad they wouldn't come to the team.
But I don't look forward to the day that Kobe Bryant's not in purple and gold.
Kobe is worth every penny, and I'd never had any doubt that he'd contribute to this team.
To have Kobe retire as a Laker, that to me is really important.
I think as long as you have Kobe Bryant on your team, anything can happen in the playoffs.
