By James Brown
14/08/2022, 02:34 PM
Kobe Bryant is with no doubt one of the best players to ever played in the NBA. Either with No.8 or with No.24, he showed time and time that he could dominate the league. He enter the League wearing No.8 before switching to 24 in 2007. Matt Barnes played with No. 24 Kobe for two seasons (2010-2012), now the 14-year veteran was recently on ESPN's NBA show and explain who was the better Kobe version.
"Number 8 gave me a lot of buckets. Number 24 gave me a lot of buckets. I got a chance to play with number 24 and I think what they touched on, 24 to me, although he was always striving be the greatest and continue to win championships, he just seemed like he was at peace. He had been through the wars early on, well documented, and it was finally his team. He was able to win two more championships and two Finals MVPs."
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It's hard to really make a debate where either of the two Kobe's come ahead in the discussion, as both had similar if not identical. No.8 Kobe played for ten season and a total of 707 games. During this time the Black Mamba was eight times All-Star, a three-time NBA champion. He also scored a total of 16,866 total points with an average of 23.9 point per game. He also was also an NBA scoring champion in the 2006 season.
As for No.24 Kobe, he played in ten season as well, for a total of 638 games. During this time Kobe was a ten-time All-Star, two-time NBA Champion and two-time Finals MVP, NBA MVP. He scored a total 16,717 total points for an average of 26.3 points per game being a NBA scoring champion in his first season as No.24. Barnes ended saying "Each player was very special. You look down the line, both numbers are very similar. It was just an honor to play against number 8 and play with number 24."
The Lakers retired both No.8 and No.24 on December 18, 2017 in honour of the late great Kobe Bryant. With both numbers retired now, the Lakers have eleven retired numbers, plus the No.6 that now has been retired for the whole NBA after Bill Russell. If the NBA decide to retire both Kobe's numbers it would be only the second time this happens.
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