{"id":89838,"date":"2025-07-24T23:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T23:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/89838\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T23:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T23:09:10","slug":"i-know-who-f-k-with-kobe-and-who-didnt-kyrie-irving-defends-kobe-bryants-legacy-after-recent-media-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/89838\/","title":{"rendered":"“I know who f\u2014k with Kobe and who didn’t” – Kyrie Irving defends Kobe Bryant’s legacy after recent media snub"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I know who f\u2014k with Kobe and who didn’t” – Kyrie Irving defends Kobe Bryant’s legacy after recent media snub<\/a> originally appeared on Basketball Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Plenty of noise followed Bleacher Report’s recent Top 100 NBA player rankings. Michael Jordan reportedly edged out LeBron James by a single point, while Kobe Bryant<\/a> didn’t even make the top 10, despite being widely regarded by many as the best player after Jordan.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Several NBA stars who shared the court with Bryant harshly criticized the rankings, including Kyrie Irving<\/a>. Kyrie and Kobe always had a unique connection. Kobe saw him as a legitimate successor \u2014 thanks to his playing style, elite footwork for a guard, post moves, handles and undeniable clutch gene.<\/p>\n

Stories are well known of Bryant calling Irving in the midst of celebration after he hit the iconic three-pointer that secured the Cleveland Cavaliers’ first-ever title, right over none other than Stephen Curry, who also ranked ahead of Bryant on the list. Speaking via Twitch, Irving addressed the controversy directly.<\/p>\n

“I’m not letting people come on and talk about Kobe like Kobe wasn’t one of the best that not only played, but that came in as a 17-year-old against grown men. And by the time this man was 22 years old, he had a few championships and he was busting the best of the best (expletive). If y’all don’t knock that (expletive) off. I’m talking to y’all at home, the (expletive) media talking heads, the ones that casually, casually throw names around. “<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“That’s what I’m trying to tell y’all. He is way bigger because of his character, because of what we witnessed him go through. We didn’t care about certain failures. The real Kobe fans didn’t care about the failures. They didn’t care about the naysayers. The real Kobe fans, the real Mamba fans that I’m talking to, didn’t care about who he was competing with. We knew who f*** with Kobe and who didn’t. I know who f*** with Kobe and who didn’t” Irving said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s difficult to stay objective<\/p>\n

Debates like these are incredibly hard to navigate. It’s difficult to stay objective. One thing is certain \u2014 Jordan and LeBron are untouchable; everything else is a matter of taste. Legends like Hakeem Olajuwon, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird all bring something legitimate to the conversation.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Dwyane Wade, one of Kobe’s fiercest rivals on the court, but also a close friend, was just as critical of the rankings, saying they shouldn’t be taken seriously<\/a>. Wade and Bryant had some epic battles and Wade personally felt the “poison” of the Black Mamba.<\/p>\n

“If you want to ask us hoopers who played against Kobe, we’re talking, all of us are talking Top 3. We’re talking about Top 3 if you played against Mamba. But for someone’s opinion that’s never played against Kobe, that’s never played the game of basketball at the level we played at, have him at #11, why am I up in arms about something like that?” he added.<\/p>\n

Bryant can always lean on his five championship rings<\/p>\n

Looking at it from this angle, Bryant can always lean on his five championship rings, more than LeBron and Curry, and most players on the list. Then again, in three of those titles, he wasn’t the number one option, and throughout his career he won “only” one MVP award and “just” two scoring titles.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

It’s easy to understand Irving and Wade, they were out there with him. They saw his impact up close, both on the court and off it. That legendary mentality of his still motivates people in all kinds of professions, and maybe that, more than the stats, is what truly sets Kobe apart.<\/p>\n

Related: “I wonder how much that puts a target on someone’s life” – Kyrie Irving suggests NBA contracts shouldn’t be available to the public<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Jul 24, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“I know who f\u2014k with Kobe and who didn’t” – Kyrie Irving defends Kobe Bryant’s legacy after recent…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":89839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[18933,3128,59881,28459,11018,3363,59882,4255,1260,62,3366,14065,67,132,68,59883],"class_list":{"0":"post-89838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-bleacher-report","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-dwyane-wade","11":"tag-kobe-bryant","12":"tag-kyrie-irving","13":"tag-lebron-james","14":"tag-legitimate-successor","15":"tag-michael-jordan","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-stephen-curry","19":"tag-tim-duncan","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-wilt-chamberlain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114910739746477672","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}