Despite being one of the greatest players to play the game of basketball in the 2000’s, Kobe Bryant is often left out of the GOAT conversation.
Bryant’s former partner in crime, Shaquille O’Neal had Golden State Warriors defensive star Draymond Green on his podcast “The Big Podcast” and revealed that due to playing in the same era as LeBron James, that’s why he isn’t in the GOAT conversation.
“Kobe kind of fell in a weird time,” Green said to O’Neal on The Big Podcast. “[Michael Jordan] left the league. When Mike left the league, y’all started to dominate. And then, you left the Lakers. When you left the Lakers, they had a few rough years.”
Draymond Green explains to Shaquille O’Neal why Kobe Bryant is often left out of the GOAT conversation
Shaquille O’Neal: “How come my guy’s not in that conversation?”
Draymond Green: “Kobe? Yes, for sure. One hundred percent.”
“Here’s why I think he’s not.”
“Number one, he… pic.twitter.com/usYHf1se0C
— Isaac Bassey (@0xBassey) July 19, 2026
Green went on to say that while Kobe was trying to find his way in the NBA without O’Neal, the emergence of James started to steal the spotlight as Bryant was playing at a high level, but the Lakers weren’t winning a lot of games.
O’Neal departed from the Lakers to the Miami Heat following the 2004 NBA season.
Without O’Neal beside him for the first time in his career, Bryant and the Lakers struggled to win as they missed the playoffs in 2005 and were eliminated in the first round the next two years.
It wasn’t until the Lakers added Pau Gasol to play alongside Bryant that they started to win again.
“In those years, LeBron was starting to make his name, and is he the best player?” Green said. “I think the amount of time it was the consensus that Kobe was the number one in the league, like the top guy.
“I don’t think it was long enough for everyone to say, like, put him in that conversation, because Bron came and put his name in the conversation. And so from that point on, it’s tug of war.”
Despite three years where the Lakers weren’t winning a lot, Bryant’s career finished with him winning 5 NBA titles, 1 season MVP, and 2 Finals MVP’s, while James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and has 4 NBA titles, 4 MVPs, and 4 Finals MVPs.
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