Hoops Habit
Fansided

8 NBA players who will remind you of Kobe Bryant this season

By Amaar Burton

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 13: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kyrie Irving #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers share a laugh during their game at Staples Center on January 13, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 13: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kyrie Irving #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers share a laugh during their game at Staples Center on January 13, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
8 of 9
Next
(Photo by Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images) /

2. Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers)

There was some poetic irony in the fact that Damian Lillard engaged in a feud with Shaq prior to this season.

While they never crossed paths on the court — Shaq retired before Lillard was drafted — their beef simmered in the hip-hop realm. Lillard is widely viewed as the best rapper in the NBA, a title that used to belong to Shaq. They traded diss tracks a few months ago, creating the rap version of the Kobe-vs.-Shaq feud that we never got to see.

Lillard can play the role of Kobe on the mic because he embodies Kobe’s trademark “Mamba Mentality” on the court, perhaps more than any NBA player today.

Lillard is another one who, like Kyrie Irving, won’t remind you of Kobe upon first glance. He’s another 6’2″ point guard who isn’t known as a spectacular athlete or a great defender.

The five-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection will need to add some more hardware to his trophy case to live up to the Kobe standard, however. Lillard has only led the Blazers past the second round of the playoffs once — and that trip to the Western Conference Finals ended in a loss via sweep to the Golden State Warriors last year.

But the confidence, the defiant swagger, the clutch shots, the scoring outbursts, the eagerness to shoulder the responsibility of his team’s fate … Lillard is all Kobe Bryant on these levels.

“Dame Time” has become Lillard’s signature, as he might be the league’s most dangerous player when the game is on the line.

Lillard has ended two playoff series in his career with deep buzzer-beating 3-pointers: taking out the Houston Rockets in the first round in 2014, and eliminating the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round in 2019.

In the days surrounding Kobe’s death, Lillard put together a hot streak that was very Kobe-like by the numbers. It began when Lillard dropped a career-high 61 points against the Warriors on Jan. 20. In his next outing he had 47 points against the Dallas Mavericks. On the same day that Kobe passed, Lillard scored 50 against the Indiana Pacers. He followed that up with 36 against the Rockets.

On the night the Lakers honored Kobe Bryant in their first home game since the tragedy, Lillard scored 48 and led the Blazers to a victory. The next day, he scored 51 against the Utah Jazz.