8 reasons why Kobe Bryant is the toughest player in NBA history

#1 Knocking down 2 clutch free throws after an Achilles tear

Golden State Warriors v Los Angeles Lakers

I don't think I can put it more succinctly and effectively than Brian Shaw, a former Laker who sat down with Horace Grant, Devean George and Ron Harper to pen an article for The Players' Tribune a day before the Mamba's retirement on 'How We'll Remember Kobe'.

"He has the highest threshold for pain of anybody I’ve ever met. LeBron got cramps and they carried him off the floor. Paul Pierce hurt his knee and they took him out in a wheelchair. Dwyane Wade got wheeled off after he separated his shoulder."

"Kobe ruptured his Achilles and wouldn’t come out of the game until the trainer let him shoot his two free throws. Then he walked all the way to the locker room. He wasn’t going to let anybody wheel him off."

"That was the most amazing thing about him that I’ve ever witnessed, and I’ve seen a lot. If you know what it feels like to have that injury — I mean, the toughness to do that is indescribable."

Horace Grant follows that up with:

"Kobe giving up those two free throws would’ve been like a little kid giving up his ice-cream cone. Forget it."

"His ability to play through injury was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. On those championship teams, he was playing with so many injuries that people didn’t even know about. And he would never complain about it."

And these final few words are what Kobe's NBA career was really all about.