5 Harsh Realities about Kobe Bryant

#2 Bryant was never the best player in the league any year

Cleveland Cavaliers v Los Angeles Lakers — Kobe Bryant and LeBron James

At the fag end of last decade, the argument to pick Kobe Bryant over LeBron James was championships, All-Star Games, Finals' losses or lack thereof. While he still holds the edge in these categories, it's a dwindling argument given James' four league MVPs. Anyway, the point isn't about who is better all-time, it's how some player or the other was better than Bryant.

Till he was with Shaq, it was difficult to pip as the best player. Once he came out of the Hall of Famer's shadow, there were other players' that were taking the league by storm and more importantly being more valuable to their team ala Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. Probably the most difficult thing to swallow from Bryant's decorated resume is that he only has one league MVP award, and that too was debatable given how well Chris Paul had led with the New Orleans Hornets.

He was named MVP in 2008 and although after that won a couple of championships with the Lakers, the James' era had begun. And if a player wanted to win an MVP after 2009, they needed an outstanding season, which was going to difficult given that Bryant was already 31 in 2009.