"If you weren't the best in anything, how can you be the best ever?" - Nick Wright explains why Kobe doesn't belong in the GOAT conversation

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"If you weren't the best in anything, how can you be the best ever?" - Nick Wright explains why Kobe doesn't belong in the GOAT conversation originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Many former players, especially his peers, argue that Kobe Bryant should be included in the greatest of all-time discussion. Kobe is considered by many as the closest player to Michael Jordan, with Jordan himself admitting that Bryant would beat him in a one-on-one game because he stole all his moves.
His five NBA titles are just one short of Mike's total and one more than what LeBron James currently has, in which case Kobe should stand in between the two.
However, Fox Sports analyst Nick Wright doesn't buy those explanations. According to Wright, there are only a chosen few in the NBA history who deserve to be part of the greatest of all-time conversation, and each of them has something special attributable to them.
"There are six people that you are allowed to have the opinion that are the greatest of all-time. You can point to something as their thing, that they were just the best at," began Wright.
Kobe wasn't the best at anything
According to Wright, Bill Russell was 21-0 in winner-takes-all games and won 11 championships in 13 NBA seasons, including 8 in a row at one point. Meanwhile, Wilt Chamberlain averaged more than 50 points and 48 minutes per game during the 1961-62 season and had that iconic 100-point game. Then there is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the greatest high school and college player of all time. KAJ's six MVPs are the most by any player in the history of the NBA.
Then there are Michael Jordan and LeBron James, the two players who feature in many of today's GOAT conversations. Jordan had an immaculate 6-0 NBA Finals record and six NBA titles during an eight-year span. James is, of course, the NBA's all-time leading scorer. He is in the Top 10 all-time in points and assists, plus is the only player to have 10K points, 10K rebounds, and 10K assists. And then there's Magic Johnson, the most superb passer ever, who changed the game with his "Showtime" style of play.
"With Kobe, whom some people try to make the case for, the problem is Michael has him clocked in every category. If you weren't the best in anything, how could you be the best ever? It's just not a viable opinion," added Wright.Kobe's peers insist that he should be in the conversation
Perhaps KB's staunchest supporter in the GOAT debate is his former partner, Shaquille O'Neal. Every time that he is asked about the greatest of all time, Shaq always laments how people overlook Kobe and leave him out of the conversation.
"Everybody's gonna have their own opinion, and I think the final conclusion could be any one of those three. My thing was, you go Jordan and then LeBron, so I just have a question. What about my boy Kobe? That's all," the Hall of Famer stated on an episode of "The Big Podcast."
However, Shaq does not say why Kobe should be in the debate. Neither does his fellow Hall of Famer, Allen Iverson, who is also very vocal about putting Bryant in the discussion. Dwyane Wade also recently vouched for Bean when he was ranked 11th in a recent Top 100 players of all-time article. However, D-Wade also could not justify why, except saying that if you played against him, you know why he's "Top 3".
Maybe Shaq, A.I., and D-Wade are talking about KB's intangibles. Those qualities cannot be measured by "Bleacher Report's" Top 100 list or Nick Wright's criteria of having something attributable to them.
For Russell, it's championships. Wilt is about insane stats, Kareem winning at all levels, MJ's immaculate Finals record, LeBron's 22-year peak, or Magic's "Showtime" style of basketball. Kobe? He's an MJ clone, and for Nick, that's not right.This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 3, 2025, where it first appeared.