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“I Hate That”: NBA Players and Fans Get Furious as Kobe Bryant is Positioned #9 in Top Basketball Players of All Time List

Published 05/14/2020, 9:13 AM EDT

Fans from the NBA community are always of two minds. So when ESPN recently released its Top 74 basketball players of all-time, a Twitter war was inevitable. Especially when Kobe Bryant and his game credibility was on the line.

ESPN places Kobe Bryant 9th in ‘Top 74 Basketball Players of All Time’ list

ESPN recently released a list in parts. It includes the top 74 basketball players of all time, according to its NBA ranking expert panel.

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Even though the rankings have sparked more criticism for ESPN than debate, it seems the sports media network wanted to spark controversy.

Ranking Kobe Bryant in the 9th place did not end up well for them. As if to salt the wounds, they did not even mention Kobe in their disclaimer cum introduction. What makes things worse is that it has LeBron James but not the Mamba.

“LeBron James or Michael Jordan? Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain? Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant? Old school or new school?

“These debates rage on endlessly in every corner of NBA fandom, and our experts have done their best to answer them, ranking the greatest players in the league’s 74-year history,” ESPN writes.

NBA players and fans react to ESPN’s injustice towards Kobe Bryant

The community is not about to listen to any excuses. Especially the players and reporters.

Free Agent Nick Young played alongside Kobe Bryant from 2013 to 2017. The ranking absolutely enraged him. The 34-year-old shooting guard felt it was unfair that when talking Kobe was always in the top 3, but when it came to ranking, the list pushed him far down the ladder.

I dnt get how in every basketball talk, Tv or pod .. they say mj, Kobe, LJ in any order but them the top 3 always …. or they will say mj or Kobe …. but when it come to ranking it be mj,Lj someone someone someone Kobe rank 13 or somewhere crazy … I hate that….
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) May 13, 2020

Skip Bayless, an American news reporter, revealed that he was appalled that LeBron James was ranked ahead of Kobe. He also revealed that he would discuss how wrong the rankings are on the upcoming episode of his show, Undisputed.

LeBron ranked 2nd all time and Shaq TENTH and Kobe NINTH??? That’s just wrong. Next on @undisputed
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 13, 2020

LeBron doesn’t have that psycho drive on defense that Jordan did. More @Undisputed, now on FS1 https://t.co/F8YsQvQl3e
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 13, 2020

Bayless sure kept his word. He went on to really grill LeBron and give various reasons why he didn’t deserve his ranking.

Scottie Pippen ranked 21st all time by ESPN? Absurd. This is partly a myth now fueled by LeBron lovers to discredit Jordan by attempting to say, “See, MJ had an al-time great co-star!” Pip was no more than a Robin who got exposed as 3rd wheel when he went to Houston and Portland.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 14, 2020

Free-agent Jamal Crawford, who last played for the Phoenix Suns, denied the authenticity of any list that did not have Bryant in the top 5.

Can’t really honor any list Kobe isn’t top 5…
— 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) May 13, 2020

New York Knicks centre Julius Randle agreed.

Facts!! https://t.co/gcvOdqbwWM
— Julius Randle (@J30_RANDLE) May 14, 2020

Bryan Crawford, producer of the WJTV and contributing writer for HoopMag, believed that ESPN has a vendetta against Kobe.

ESPN’s NBA writers have had a Kobe agenda going back at least 10yrs
— Bryan Crawford (@B_Craw4D) May 13, 2020

Fan Reactions

Further, fan pages were enraged too. The majority sided against ESPN. From tweets about how absurd the ranking is, to arresting ESPN, the fans wished it all.

I want whoever ranked Kobe Bryant 9th to be arrested immediately https://t.co/NXPmOFCIzO
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) May 13, 2020

ESPN has always hated on Kobe.. smh pic.twitter.com/XxC9muvDOQ
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) May 13, 2020

i just know Kobe up in heaven rn waving hi to the ESPN experts pic.twitter.com/ol1ttTbvtg
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) May 13, 2020

I just don’t understand the logic of putting Duncan, Bird, Russell, and Wilt over Kobe.
— Ashley 🥀❄️ (@Ashley6__23) May 13, 2020

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Imagine having Duncan above Kobe Bryant even though Kobe has a winning record against the Spurs in the playoffs and had a longer prime than Duncan did.
— Don Cheta (@don_cheta) May 13, 2020

Whoever ranked Kobe Bryant 9th is certainly a heartless somebody…💔#kobe pic.twitter.com/0m2clMXxIj
— Iam_BlackMamba❣️❣️❣️💯 (@OBIAGU007) May 13, 2020

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Stay tuned for our very own EssentiallySports rankings of the Top 10 Basketball Players of All Time.

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“I Hate That”: NBA Players and Fans Get Furious as Kobe Bryant is Positioned #9 in Top Basketball Players of All Time List

ESPN places Kobe Bryant 9th in ‘Top 74 Basketball Players of All Time’ list

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NBA players and fans react to ESPN’s injustice towards Kobe Bryant

Fan Reactions