“Mamba should’ve definitely been higher than 10” Stephen A Smith advocates for Kobe Bryant to be ranked higher in the NBA Top-10 All-Time List


“Mamba should’ve definitely been higher than 10” Stephen A Smith advocates for Kobe Bryant to be ranked higher in the NBA Top-10 All-Time List

Stephen A Smith arguing for Kobe Bryant

Stephen A Smith on an episode of First Take went all out in his arguments against ESPN’s Top-10 Basketball Players of all time list as he began with the most important statement where he said that all the people at ESPN had voted for the 75 best players of all time and it definitely wasn’t in an order, therefore there definitely were problems with the list where the players were ranked in the order of 1 to 10.

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Stephen A highlighted that he didn’t have any problems with anyone on the top 10 list but he definitely felt that the orders could be changed to some extent and some players could be brought in, instead of the others that were there on the list.

ESPN's Top 10 players of all time list
ESPN’s Top 10 players of all time list

Stephen A Smith gave a well-defined and a descriptive argument to support his assertion that Kobe Bryant should’ve been higher than the number 10 rank that he got, and that there could’ve been certain additions to the list, for example the likes of Stephen Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Durant and Larry Bird who he felt in a comparative degree were better than a lot many players in the league, despite him stating that he didn’t have any problem with the people in that list.

Let us take a deeper dive into this interview and talk about what all Stephen A Smith had to say and what were his reasons in order to favour his assertion that Kobe Bryant should’ve been higher in the list and the other players should’ve had a place in there instead of some others.

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Stephen A Smith goes against ESPN’s All Time Top-10 list, argues for Kobe Bryant to be ranked higher

Stephen A. Smith
Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A Smith was asked the question of if Kobe Bryant should’ve been ranked higher keeping in mind all the aspects of the list and what were his thoughts on the issue. While answering the question, Stephen A Smith started off by saying that all the people at ESPN voted for the best 75 players and not for the ranking that they would have in the top 10 or top 20 list therefore there had to be certain issues that they would have with the list.

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The list was wrong at its very beginning as Kobe Bryant was ranked number 10, which was even behind Tim Duncan and Oscar Robertson, which was something that didn’t sit very well with Stephen A and he felt the need to argue against it. Stephen A stated in the favour of mamba that he had won 5 titles in the NBA out of which 2 were without Shaquille O’Neal which highlights the sheer dominance that he had in the league. He also stated that no matter what stats you could put up, mamba was definitely better than Tim Duncan and a few others who were up there in the league.

ESPN’s Kobe Bryant debate

According to Stephen A. he didn’t have any problem with the top 3 that were Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but he definitely felt that a lot many players could be exchanged with the ones present in the list if you would compare them head-to-head. He felt that Stephen Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Bird, Kevin Durant and a few more players who had such an impact that they should definitely have been added to the top 10 list and therefore there were some faults in it.

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Stephen A also took cognizance of Curry’s record shattering performance in the NBA All Star Game a few days ago and highlighted that the Greatest shooter in the history of the NBA definitely should’ve been up there in the list even though he had only won 2 titles, while highlighting that both of those were against LeBron James who was number 2 in that list.

No matter what how the list may be ordered, there definitely will be certain problems people will have with certain names and the list overall, therefore, the argument of who should be in the top 10 of all time, will always continue.

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