Kobe Bryant Reveals 5 Top Players and Teams He Ever Played With, Says Last Olympics Tour of Duty a 'Beautiful' Career Ending
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Kobe Bryant has been in the league for quite a while already and he has seen great players come and go over the years. He battled it out against them and, now, he revealed the top NBA players and teams he has ever played with.
The list includes NBA greats like Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, as well as, current league superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant, according to ESPN. Bryant added that it was hard to pick just five from a long list of great players. The teams that make his tough five list are San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls.
"It's rather interesting that Bryant picked Drexler, who had retired before Bryant became a full-time starter in his third season. That's quite the show of respect from one great shooting guard to another," wrote CBS Sports.
Meanwhile, the LA Lakers superstar has earlier expressed his desire to play for the U.S. men's national basketball team in the upcoming Rio Olympics in 2016. While, millions of his fans around the world, definitely, would love their revered basketball idol to take the biggest international stage in the sport, Bryant's chances of making the cut in a team loaded with a lot of stars, not to mention younger, better and healthier at that, are really slim.
Not unless the management behind the U.S. basketball team would offer him a free pass or some noble NBA player would gladly give away his spot for Bryant, it is a good bet that we may be seeing the last of the Black Mamba playing a competitive basketball game on a hardcourt this NBA season.
Bryant, on his part, said that he would prefer to fight for a spot and not have it given to him out of respect or some kind of a parting gift. He said that he is not pushing to play on the US Olympic team in Rio, but it would, definitely, make for a "beautiful ending" to his storied 20-year career, according to Yahoo Sports.
"It's not something I'm absolutely pressing for but being part of the Olympic experience is a beautiful thing," Bryant said. "It would be a beautiful thing to finish my career playing internationally. But that being said we will see how it goes."
The future hall of famer has been an integral part of the national team for years having been a part of its gold medal finish at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics.