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
There are no other Kobe Bryants.
Brandon Ingram
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
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
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.
Doug Collins
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.
Emily Chang
I grew up watching Kobe Bryant.
G-Eazy
Guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, they'll take bad criticism in a good way.
Gary Payton
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.
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.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Kobe Bryant is my favorite basketball player. He takes risks. He goes for the shot. He isn't cautious with whatever he does.
Haley Joel Osment
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.
Jay Williams
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.
Jayson Tatum
I don't want to see Kobe Bryant ever leave. If he was 100 years old and still playing, I'd be happy.
Jeanie Buss
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.
I think as long as you have Kobe Bryant on your team, anything can happen in the playoffs.
Kobe Bryant is a terrific offensive rebounder.
Jeff Van Gundy
Kevin Garnett was a great player, but he wasn't Kobe Bryant.
I want to be that type of guy - I want to be Kobe Bryant. I want to be Tim Duncan. I want to be Dirk Nowitzki - stay with one team my whole career.
If you've got a teammate around you, you know sometimes they're going to score, sometimes you're going to pass the ball or you won't win games - unless you're Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. And even then, they need a good team around them.
I think nobody should rash things and try to find the successor of Kobe Bryant.
Kobe Bryant should know how to defend a pick and roll.
I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
I don't need no advice from Kobe Bryant.
I really like Damian Lillard, I like Iman Shumpert's raps, Stephen Jackson, Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant. Those are my favorite ones. I like Lonzo Ball, don't know about him as a rapper yet, but I know he's cool.
Honestly, I don't listen to nobody else's music but my own. It's kind of like sports to me. You don't see Kobe Bryant at a LeBron James game - he just works on his own game. And that's what I do. I only listen to me, so I can criticize and analyze and all those things.
Kobe Bryant is a walking stat himself. He doesn't have to explain what he brings to the table.
If you look at the history of the NBA, guys that came out of high school are the guys that held the NBA together. You look a Kobe Bryant, you look at a LeBron, these are household names.
It's hard not to respect Kobe Bryant's game: He's one of the all-time greats.
I always wanted to play with Kobe Bryant. I used to tease him all the time. Every time I was a free agent, I was like, 'What's up, bro? You got a chance to get the pit that you need. You feel me? This is your chance.'
When I got traded to the Lakers in '97, Kobe Bryant was just a rookie.
The Laker brand and name itself is fantastic. When you have a guy like Kobe Bryant in that brand also, it takes it out of this world. I think the fact that everybody sees the work ethic this guy has makes them work harder.
I don't really celebrate victories. Kobe Bryant just kept playing. Michael Jordan just kept playing.
The best quality about Kobe Bryant? You want me to be honest? I don't know. I'll tell you why. I open my arms to everybody. But he never stepped forward for the embrace. So I never really got to know him. I don't know anything about him, and it's kinda sad.
There are very few LeBron James and Kobe Bryants.
When you play with Kobe Bryant, the ball is gonna be with him most of the time, which is understandable.
Part of the reason why Kobe Bryant is such a big inspiration to me is because he was shipped off to the Lakers right out of high school. He went from English class to the Great Western Forum.
The craft of officiating is taught that people come and pay top dollar to see people like Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, all the stars, and you have to make sure when you blow the whistle against those individuals that it's a foul that you basically can't let go.
Losing Michael Jackson is a handicap. It's the Lakers trying to win a championship without Kobe Bryant.
Kobe Bryant has always been my favorite player, and he was drafted No. 13, too, in 1996.
