As Kobe Bryant’s career continues to wind down, there will inevitably be more discussions about where he ranks amongst the all-time greats, in particular how he stacks up with Michael Jordan.
Kobe has been drawing comparisons to Jordan for pretty much his entire career and with the five-time champion now set to retire, the fans and pundits will begin searching for the next great player.
Bryant’s father, former NBA player Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant, appeared on the Brown and Scoop Podcast and while he believes there will never be another Kobe or Jordan, he does see one player who he thinks can be very special according to James Herbert of CBS Sports:
“I don’t see anyone else who compares to Michael or to Kobe. I think the kid in Minnesota has a chance to be special…Wiggins. You talk about the size frame and those kind of things. Wiggins has the chance to be special, because really I don’t see anyone else. I don’t think there will be another Kobe or another Michael.”
‘Jellybean’ would also add that being a high draft pick isn’t nearly as important as being drafted by the right organization:
“These kids come out of school and they worry about being a number one pick, number two pick, I think it’s more important that you get with the right organization and Kobe was able to do that and as you see, playing with one organization is really something special.”
Kobe and his father both share similar sentiments on Wiggins. Wiggins has a long way to go obviously, but he has the talent and work ethic to be a star.
Getting to the level of Kobe or Jordan is an entirely different conversation and ‘Jellybean’ is probably right that there will never be anyone else like either of them. The combination of skills, athleticism, and extreme killer instinct is very difficult to find, hence why only Kobe and Jordan fit the bill.