LeBron James vs Kobe Bryant: A Complete Comparison

Overall Impact to Team

Enter caption

This one is pretty simple to me; the advantage is heavily in favour of LeBron James.

Kobe missed the playoffs after losing Shaq, and played second fiddle to Shaq for three of his five championships. Kobe's impact was limited when he didn't have superstar players next to him. For the three years in between Shaq's departure and Pau Gasol's arrival, The Lakers missed the playoffs once and then lost in the first round in consecutive years. LeBron has never relied on good teammates as much as Kobe. When Kobe had bad teammates, he missed the playoffs, when LeBron had bad teammates, he made deep playoff runs. It sounds like a broken record, but it's all true. Look at this year's woeful Cleveland Cavaliers, or the Cavs after he departed for Miami, if you need any more evidence of the impact he directly has on his team.

None of that is to say that Kobe didn't impact a team, but he didn't instantly lift a team to incredible heights all on his own. There is no shame in needing other good players to win games, it's just that LeBron was able to go slightly further with less supporting pieces. LeBron also needed great players alongside him to make his deepest playoff runs, just as any player does regardless of their greatness.

Kobe impacted a game by heading into every contest wanting to score 50-plus points and make a game-winning shot. He wanted to do it all himself, on both ends, and there was nothing wrong with that because he could do it. Kobe regularly won games from his own wrist, he even did right until his final game as a Laker. His killer instinct might have been his deadliest weapon.

LeBron approached the game in a more unselfish way. I don't believe Kobe was a selfish player, but LeBron is definitely more unselfish. LeBron could be a scoring champion again if he wanted to be, but he has recognized he helps his team the most when he plays as a distributor to get his teammates wide open shots. He can still score with the best players in the world, but he has a passing game to make Magic Johnson blush and he uses that to best impact a game. His unselfishness routinely elevates average player to become good and even great players.