Over his 19 NBA seasons, Kobe Bryant has played against some of the greatest players to ever play in the NBA. On a conference call to discuss his lengthy career on Tuesday, Bryant was asked to name the best players he has ever personally played against, and named Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Clyde Drexler.
While a few of the names (Jordan, Durant, James) were expected, there were a couple of surprises as well. Notably missing from that list are Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal, among others. Duncan is the other great "winner" of Bryant's era, matching Kobe's five championships with five rings of his own, and while Shaq obviously played with Bryant, he was pretty good after leaving the Lakers as well.