Did 6’6 Kobe Bryant switch from 8 to 24 to one-up his idol, Michael Jordan?
Kobe Bryant has always expressed his admiration/rivalry with Michael Jordan: how far would he go to beat him?
Kobe Bryant has always strived to prove that he is the best player on the court. Even while Michael Jordan was on the court. They had battles that were not long, but very intense. In the end, Kobe nearly emulated MJ in his career achievements. While Kobe was robbed of several MVPs, he came very close to having 2-3 mobs of his own.
One thing he also copied MJ on was changing jersey numbers. While Jordan only did it for a while and went back to 23, Kobe stayed at 24 for more than 300 games. When asked why the change, he gave an excellent answer about how he wanted to enjoy himself 24 hours a day and the effort he put in on a daily basis. In another interview, he said that he made the switch because he wore 24 in his high school.
But deep down, everyone secretly knows that he did it to feel like he’s gotten over his idol, and the top comment on the post below speculates the same thing. He did the same thing with the Olympic jersey, where Jordan wore 9 and Kobe wore 10. Mind games right there. Snakes are known to be masters of deception, and Black Mamba is one of the best at it. Well he said he used 10 to honor Leo Messibut we know it’s just a cover story.
Also Read: “LeBron’s ’20s Looks Like A Kobe Bryant Signature Model!”: NBA Twitter Loves Lakers Star’s Latest Line With Nike, Compares Them To Black Mamba Pairs Of The Past
Kobe Bryant had two hall-of-fame careers, one with each jersey number
Kobe Bryant played 11 seasons in the number 8 jersey and 9 seasons in the number 24. While the number 8 was brash and direct, the number 24 was calm, menacing and fierce. Although they were opposites, the results remained the same: they both won championships. Multiple championships too, because he has a ring for each finger on one hand.
The numbers are also almost identical, and the praise is also divided in half. These are the awards and accolades for Number 8:
As No. 8:
Rookie Second Team (1997)
Slam Dunk Contest Champion (1997)
Scoring Champion (2006)
Eight-time NBA All-Star
All-Star Game MVP (2002)
Four-time All-Defensive First Team
Defensive second team twice
And these are Number 24’s stats:
As No. 24:
Scoring Champion (2007)
Four-time NBA All-Star
Two-time All-Star Game MVP (2007, 2009)
Four-time All-Defensive First Team
Four-time All-NBA First Team
NBA Most Valuable Player (2008)
Most Valuable Player in two NBA Finals (2009, 2010)
Each could have been a hall of fame induction on its own, and the Los Angeles Lakers rewarded it by retiring both numbers. He is the only person to have 2 numbers retired by a team. If you were given a choice, which version of Mamba would you choose?
Also read: “LeBron James and I would be perfect for each other!”: Kobe Bryant rejects the option of playing with the idol Michael Jordan and prefers the King
