Two is Better Than One
The Lakers recently announced that they will be retiring Kobe Bryant’s jersey before their game against the Warriors on December 18. The Lakers honoring Kobe didn’t surprise me one bit, but what caught me off guard was the fact that the Lakers plan to retire both of Bryant’s numbers, 8 and 24. Then I did some research and came to this conclusion: If Kobe Bryant had split his career into two, when he wore number 8 and then when he wore number 24, both careers would have made the Hall of Fame independent of the other. Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it.
Wearing number 8 from 1996-2006, Kobe was an 8-time All-Star (more appearances than Scottie Pippen), a 4-time All NBA (the same number as Chris Webber), and a 3-time NBA champion (the same as LeBron). That’s a Hall of Fame career by itself, but then Kobe played another 10 seasons!
Wearing number 24 from 2006-2016, Kobe made the All-Star team 10 times (equal to the number of appearances made by John Stockton over his entire career), was named to an All-NBA team 7 times (Dwyane Wade has made it 8), and was a 2-time champion and NBA Finals MVP.
Obviously, this isn’t how the Hall- of Fame works, but it was an interesting thought experiment just to illustrate how great Kobe Bryant was. If you don’t feel like doing the math yourself, over the course of his 20-year NBA career, Kobe was an 18-time All-Star, 11-time All NBA selection, and a 5-time champion. His career wasn’t split into two, it was simply one. And it is one of the greatest careers in the history of the sport.
