Is Lonzo Ball throwing shade at late Lakers great Kobe Bryant?

While some people have Kobe Bryant very high on the list of the greatest players in NBA history, very few feel that he is one of the top five players to ever play the game. Some of that has to do with the fact that his stats were lower than the players they feel are ahead of them, although his numbers were slightly suppressed because he played in the lowest scoring and slowest era in league history. Some of it has to do with the negative narratives surrounding him and possibly even personal bias.

Still, Bryant was at least arguably the best all-around player or non-big man in the league throughout the 2000s, and his accomplishments speak for themselves.

Previous Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball made a provocative statement about the late Purple and Gold legend. He said he never felt Bryant was the best player because of a negative career record (h/t Ahn Fire Digital).

“I love Kobe, but he was never the best player for me when I saw him, just because he had the most misses ever, you know what I’m saying?” Ball explained. “I don’t know.”

Bryant became the NBA’s all-time leader in missed field-goal attempts late in his career, though much of that could be attributed to the fact that he played 20 seasons and was made a terrible player in his final few campaigns by a torn Achilles and other damages. Current Lakers superstar LeBron James recently leapfrogged him in that category, though James has shot 50.6% from the field in his career.

For his career, Bryant was 44.7% from the field. Given the fact that there are a lot more transition opportunities in today’s game, as well as the fact that teams shoot a lot more 3-pointers, which opens up the middle of the court, he probably would have shot a significantly better percentage if he had been in his prime during this era.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Is Lonzo Ball throwing shade at late Lakers great Kobe Bryant?