Even though Kobe Bryant has five NBA championships under his belt, the truth is that he's enjoyed two really great stretches of team success during his career along with a bunch of pretty mediocre seasons (who can forget the Smush Parker years?). The Black Mamba won titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002. But after that, it took him seven long years to won another 'chip. He then won titles in 2009 and 2010, but since then, the Lakers haven't been very good, especially by Kobe's high standards.
Tim Duncan has also won five NBA titles during his career. But his championships have been more spread out. He won his first one in 1999 before going on to win titles in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014 (and truthfully, he should have won one in 2013, too). And while he has just as many titles as Kobe does, the perception is that TD's Spurs teams have been way more consistent than Kobe's Lakers teams over the years. So with the Spurs and Lakers set to square off tonight, Kobe was asked about TD's success, and he admitted that he's jealous of all the consistency that his fellow superstar has enjoyed in San Antonio.
"I can't express to you how much I'm jealous," Kobe told the Los Angeles Daily News. "I've been up and down."
In the Daily News piece, Kobe also revealed that he wouldn't mind playing Duncan and the Spurs one more time in the playoffs before he retires.
"I want a crack at him," Kobe said. "I would love to play the Spurs in the playoffs one more time."
At this point—the Lakers are just 1-7 on the season heading into tonight's game—we're guessing Kobe would love to play anyone in the playoffs one more time. But unlike Duncan, Kobe isn't surrounded by a strong cast of fellow stars, which is why TD is still excelling with the Spurs and Kobe is struggling with the Lakers. No wonder he's so jealous.
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[via Los Angeles Daily News]
