LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, the two legends of the NBA have created their share of legacy at quite a young age. The two players throughout their career in NBA have had known for rivalry against each other being quite friendly and professional.
Despite being the best players on their respective teams, the two never got the chance to play on the same All-Star team in NBA.
However, they teamed together twice and won gold medals while playing for Team USA at the Olympic games. The first being in 2008 at the Beijing Games and the next at the 2012 London Games.
Although they never played in the same team, both seem to admire each other game, which was seen in an interview with ESPN.
Apart from playing together in the Olympics, they played against each other for quite a few times. Let’s take a look in detail at the James and Bryant NBA head-to-head games.
LeBron James vs Kobe Bryant head to head stats
LeBron James started his career with Cleveland Cavaliers, then with Miami Heat, and joined the Lakers, 2 years post past Bryant’s retirement. Also, he is the only player in the NBA to have 3 NBA championships with each of the franchises in Finals MVP.
Besides this, Kobe Bryant started his career in 1996 with Los Angeles Lakers. He is the second player to have appeared 18 times in NBA All-Star appearances. Besides this, he won five championships and 1 MVP. Apart from their respective successes in NBA, both have played against each other in 22 games altogether.
During the regular season of 2003-2016, Bryant with an average point of 24.6 got dominated by James’s 28.2 points. Besides this, LeBron James was above Bryant in every aspect with 7.4 > 5.0 rebounds, 7.3 > 5.2 assists, 1.9 > 1.1 steals and 0.7 > 0.2 blocks.
Thus, James holds a 16-6 winning record over Bryant when they went head-to-head. In 2020, LeBron James passed Kobe Bryant for third on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Apart from their professional life, both have been in quite a close relationship since James’s trade in Laker’s in 2018. With the sudden death of the NBA legend Kobe Bryant, James took to his Instagram in memory of him.
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However, both have been very dominant players of their time. Together they both have nine championship rings and are the first Ballot Hall of Famers.