How many players are/were remotely as competitive as Kobe Bryant?

[kane0801]

Lillard

[benson13]

They're all competitive. Nobody wants to lose, but Kobe took it personally despite playing a team sport. Kobe had an intense hate for losing or facing the idea that somebody was better than him.

Jordan, Bird, Bill Russel, and Zeke come to mind. Also mid to late 2000's Amare won't get much mention, but the dude torched the Spurs in the 2005 WCF, had microfracture surgery, and came back with a knock down jumpshot.

[Lalouie]

Kobe Bryant's legacy as an NBA player is how extremely competitive he was.

Most people are amazing/impressed over his heart, drive, passion and toughness.

However, how many players are on same competitive level as Kobe?

westbrook.

1...heart and playing 110%
2...if you're talking about the drive to improve, westbrook has been improving essentially the first decade of his nba life if for no other reason than to prove everybody wrong.

kobe has been very vocal and MORE than most but almost every GREAT top whatever ring player has strove to improve. difference is kobe wore it on his shoulder. i mean he was in your face about slacking.

[CIN-C-STAR]

No way on Westbrook. He wants to win on his terms, not win no matter what.
I've seen him skip too many closeouts and rotations on defense to put him in that category, even while he was burning extra energy to get offensive rebounds his big would have easily secured.
He likes to play angry, and when he reaches that weird anger zenith he can really dial it in for a short burst, but he doesn't consistently play dialed in at all if we're being honest.
I would say Lowry, Draymond and Beverley are probably the best examples of current players who exhibit Kobe's competitiveness. Butler and Kawhi are also right there. Maybe Donovan Mitchell, too.

[SerialChiller]

Definitely Wade....Butler prob too.

[Black Jack]

Two. Bird and Jordan. The only two who had the work ethic and mainly, the f you attitude on the court. Neither had friends on the other team till after the season or even careers.
Crazy as this sounds, possibly Westbrook in that regard

Kobe, Bird, Jordan are my answer too. Part of it is actually being better than everyone, Westbrook isn't sadly. A guy like Kobe or Bird or Jordan is better than everyone, cocky about it, and not afraid to let people on the court know he wants it more than they do AND can deliver.

That's demoralizing in a way you have to be a top 10 or so all time level talent to achieve. There is a different air when a player not just hypes himself up to believe he's the best (like most guys have to) but he KNOWS he's the the king on the court, and is determined and strong willed enough to never question himself. Those guys scare other players.

[Bum Adebayo]

Jimmy Butler
Zion Williamson

[Dupp]

No way on Westbrook. He wants to win on his terms, not win no matter what.
I've seen him skip too many closeouts and rotations on defense to put him in that category, even while he was burning extra energy to get offensive rebounds his big would have easily secured.
He likes to play angry, and when he reaches that weird anger zenith he can really dial it in for a short burst, but he doesn't consistently play dialed in at all if we're being honest.
I would say Lowry, Draymond and Beverley are probably the best examples of current players who exhibit Kobe's competitiveness. Butler and Kawhi are also right there. Maybe Donovan Mitchell, too.

Kobe has played more than his fair share of lazy defense that argument makes no sense. Westbrook is as competitive as anyone he just has a low bball iq and bad jump shot.

[ThaRegul8r]

This notion that you have to be a jerk to be considered ultra competitive is just flat out wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I idolised Michael Jordan, and have a great amount of respect for Kobe, but let's not disrespect some of the all time competitive NBA players, past and present, just because they don't have that myth of ultra competitive stories to back up that claim.

It's actually maladaptive and isn't psychologically healthy.

That isn't based on opinion, but on empirical research.

But as that's what this society celebrates, fanbases use these incidences as evidence of how competitive their favorite player is.

[And1+2]

Hmm. Tons of interesting answers.

Kobe was hyper-competitive. Only Jordan was moreso, in my opinion. It's a combination of skill, extreme work ethic, swagger, and an almost obsessive drive to be the best in the world no matter the cost.

A lot of the players mentioned in here can and do will their teams to victory all the time. Jordan and Kobe willed their teams to championships. Big difference.

[penggemar]

Jordan, Bird, Manu

[Snake3]

A lot of ppl in the NBA are competitive, but in different ways.

As many people said, Michael Jordan.

He is ultra competitive. Probably more so than Kobe. Kobe mentioned that his competitiveness stop on the basketball court for the most part. MJ did not. There was a story that once his teammate beat him at ping pong I believe. And MJ practiced so much at it until he could beat him back. MJ would try to trash talk Kobe saying if both of them were in their prime, MJ would torch him. Kobe would fire back, saying something like, "Y'know what I could do."

Larry Bird.

While in general he was really competitive, his obsession of wanting to beat Magic was always cited. He could constantly check the stats and read to see how well he is playing and if they are winning. He always wanted to pay him back over his college lost. He was the type of person who did work hard and fight through the pain if he could.

Of course you have Magic, Bill Russell, Wilt, Zeke, Mchale, Shaq, Barkley, Stockton, Tim Duncan and etc. They were a bunch of players who were. They are stories about them and they even said that they were. MJ, Kobe and Bird might on more of the crazy side.

As of right now, probably Jimmy Butler, Westbrook, Giannis. LeBron in some ways because similar to Kobe, he wants to be the GOAT and surpass MJ. He wants to be similar to how Tom Brady is, but in the NBA. Kawhi is probably extremely competitive too, it just that it's in a quiet nature.

[DCRYsing89]

Jimmy Butler, Bird, Kawhi, Manu, Dirk, Dame, Westbrook, Giannis, Pat Bev
They compare
But MJ amd Kobe are something else

[pootbrah]

Delly

[CodeBreaker]

Michael Jordan alone.

[Gooner]

Lots of players. They just show it in different ways. Guys like wade bron Nash kg Paul draymond manu Duncan etc etc are obvious. Probably lots of role players like battier type guys too.

Not LeBron, he is too concerned about his reputation, and Nash was too nice.

[OdomFan]

Michael Jordan
Magic Johnson
Larry Bird
Tim Duncan
John Stockton
Dirk Nowitzki
Kevin Garnett
Dikembe Mutumbo
Patrick Ewing
David Robinson
Jason Kidd
Chris Paul

[Yinwest]

Jordan, Bird, Russell, Isiah were the most cut throat competitors I have seen. Kobe was kind of the same way.

[foreigngrammar]

Dwight carried a team to the **** NBA Finals. Don't disrespect a man just because he didn't learn post move. Dwight was a monster in his prime he didn't need post moves.

LeBron was a competitor it sucked he had to be drafted by a trash organization like Cleveland that couldn't surround him with decent players. If Kobe demanded a trade to LAL or else he would have been LeBron in CLE situation. I hate to bring that up when I am still mourning Kobe, but don't bring up that blasphemy. Same does for Wade, just remember how competitive he was when you google or YouTube the 2006 NBA finals.

You don' know ****, man!
Leave it alone...

You seem unable to grasp the difference between a Jordan, Kobe, Bird maybe Westbrook, Butler, KG and Dirk to any other individual when it comes to competitiveness.

[JN61]

LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade in all three of their respective primes.

Lebron's Heatles move was markedly anti-competitive, but agreed for most of his career. Hell **** no to Dwight. If that guy had an ounce of Kobe's work ethic he'd have learned a single post move.

Question wasn't work ethic.