Why Kobe Bryant was so important to the NBA

The polarizing properties of Kobe mean the arguments over his place among the NBA greats will continue long into his retirement, so let’s take a moment to discuss the one element that’s not up for debate: He was the NBA’s most important player from 2000 to 2009.

Kobe Bryant’s 20th NBA season will be his last Kobe Bryant said Michael Jordan was one of the first people he contacted to reveal he would retire after the 2015-16 season.

Where does Kobe Bryant stand among the all-time NBA greats? “Kobe was my Jordan,” said Paul George, who had been on the planet for just more than a year when Jordan won his first championship in 1991.

“I didn’t really have many moments of watching Jordan, but Kobe was my Jordan.

Just because Kobe wasn’t Jordan it didn’t mean he wasn’t Jordan-like, that he didn’t have just as big an impact to younger folks whose memories of the NBA exist only in HDTV transmissions.

Kobe Bryant is grateful for the impact he has been able to have on the game’s younger stars.

Kobe was the one to bring the lessons he learned from Jordan to the new generation and to inspire them the way he once drew inspiration from Jordan.

From 2000 to 2010, the only four Finals that drew double-digit TV ratings all had one star in common: Kobe Bryant.