Kobe Bryant is probably playing his last year in the NBA.
The Black Mamba and Los Angeles Lakers star is already in his 19th season in the world's biggest professional basketball league. With all the wear and tear he experienced in the last few years, most fans are expecting him to hang his boots after the 2015-16 season.
The Black Mamba is a rare specie in the NBA, admired for his killer instinct. Once he leaves the game, people will surely feel something is missing.
Back in Michael Jordan's time, many players were dubbed as the next him, including Bryant. There is T-Mac, Dwyane Wade, and Lebron James. Bryant managed to carve his own name and his effect in the league is so big it will be hard to see him go.
If ever, will a young player evolve into some like the Black Mamba? Is there someone out there poised to become the next Kobe Bryant? The five-time NBA champion is not high on the idea there is someone out there that can emulate him.
"Man, nah, I'm kind of old school, man," Kobe Bryant told Shaquille O'Neal during his appearance in the latter's "The Big Podcast with Shaq."
"You have certain players that have that aggressiveness and that mentality. It's tough to tell. It's a different generation. I grew up playing against Michael [Jordan] and [Gary Payton] and all these stone cold assassins. John Stockton and all these guys. So I had that mentality. You don't really see that kind of mentality around the league nowadays. Everybody is buddy-buddy and don't want to hurt each other's [feelings]."
Aside from the lack of Black Mamba heir apparent in the NBA, juicy tid bits from "The Big Podcast with Shaq" also include:
- Shaq said Kobe Bryant is 'the greatest Laker ever'
- Shaq hated it when Kobe won his fifth ring
- Kobe says he had some screws loose when he challenged Shaq
- Charles Barkley told Shaq Kobe passed him in scoring list to which he said "Damn, this dude's got a lot of points."
- 2000s dynamic duo take turns in the palyoffs and "used to literally alternate who dominates what series."
- Kobe thinks "the physicality in the Olympics is more physical than the NBA is" currently
