In the editorial “Without Question, LeBron Is League’s Best Player” John Hollinger from The Sun expresses his opinion that “LeBron James is the best player in the league, period, and is likely to hold that honor for at least the next half decade.” This editorial was written after LeBron’s spectacular performance at Madison Square Garden during the 2008 NBA season. In that game, LeBron had 50 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. Hollinger believes that this single performance against the Knicks proves LeBron James is currently the best basketball player in the NBA. To reinforce his opinion, Hollinger compares the statistics of LeBron James to other active NBA greats, including Kobe Bryant. I completely disagree with Hollinger. I think Kobe Bryant is the league’s best player for many reasons.

After LeBron’s spectacular performance, Hollinger wrote, “I normally don’t get too worked up over a single-game performance, but most single-game performances aren’t on par with this one.” I agree that LeBron’s 50-point double-double was an amazing accomplishment. However, Kobe Bryant’s 81 point game is better. In that game, Kobe displayed almost every aspect of a versatile scorer. He did everything to near perfection. Whether it was running the fast break, driving the lane, or shooting his jump shot, he did it all almost perfectly. Kobe’s 81 point game is the second highest ever scored. Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and other legends of the game haven’t scored 81 points in one game. Hollinger’s main reason for believing LeBron James is better than Kobe Bryant is based purely on statistics: “Nobody has averaged more than 30 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds per game since Michael Jordan.” Even with those great numbers, LeBron James didn’t win the league MVP that season. The person that won it instead of LeBron was none other than Kobe Bryant. The greatest season of LeBron’s NBA career still wasn’t enough to beat the “Black Mamba” (Kobe Bryant) for MVP.

The whole point of playing basketball is to win championships, not to lead the league in scoring or any other statistic. With that said, it doesn’t matter how many MVPs you win if your team isn’t successful. Although Kobe has led the league in scoring before, he has proven that he can win championships by leading the Lakers to win four NBA championships. Kobe Bryant took over in the end of those games, hitting clutch shots when his team needed them most. LeBron James on the other hand, hasn’t even won a NBA championship, despite being given opportunities to take those games over. Skeptics will argue that the reason why Kobe Bryant has won four championships is not because of Kobe himself, but because of the talent around him. They don’t think that Kobe would have won the three championships in a row without Shaquille O’Neal. I think it is the other way around. Shaquille wouldn’t have won the three championships without Kobe. Yes, Shaquille O’Neal was a big factor in those championships, but Kobe won those games down the stretch. Kobe proved to the world that he didn’t Shaq to win a championship when he led the Shaq-less Lakers to win their 15th championship in the 2009 season.

LeBron James is still young and hasn’t reached his full potential yet. Maybe, when he is in his prime, King James will take the throne away from Kobe. But right now, the king of basketball without a doubt is Kobe Bryant.