Did Lonzo Ball throw shade at late Lakers star Kobe Bryant?

While some people see Kobe Bryant at the top of the list of greatest players in NBA history, very few believe that he is one of the five greatest players to ever play the game. Part of that has to do with the fact that his stats were lower than those of the players they thought ranked above them, although his numbers were somewhat suppressed because he played in the lowest-scoring, slowest-paced era in the history of the game league played. Some of this has to do with the negative narratives around him and perhaps even his personal bias.

Still, Bryant was at least arguably the best all-around player/non-big man in the league in the 2000s, and his accomplishments speak for themselves.

Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball made a provocative statement about the late Purple and Gold legend. He said he never considered Bryant the best player due to a negative career record (h/t Ahn Fire Digital).

“I love Kobe, but he was never the best player to me when I watch him, just because he made the most mistakes ever, you know what I mean?” Ball explains. “I don’t know.”

Bryant became the NBA’s all-time leader in missed field goal attempts toward the end of his career, although much of that was due to the fact that he played 20 seasons and was cut short in his final seasons by a poor Achilles tendon tear and others Injuries. The Lakers’ current superstar, LeBron James, recently passed him in this category, even though James has made 50.6% of field shots in his career.

For his career, Bryant shot 44.7% from the field. Given that there are a lot more transition opportunities in today’s game and teams are shooting a lot more threes, freeing up the middle of the court, he probably would have had a much better scoring rate if he had done that in his prime during that era.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Did Lonzo Ball throw shade at late Lakers star Kobe Bryant?