Lakers News: Why Former Champ Believes This Los Angeles Legend Has Best NBA "Story" Ever

In order to be successful in the basketball world, you need to have a kind of championship mindset that separates you from the rest of the competitors. 

But for the Late Laker great Kobe Bryant, he had a mentality that not only helped him become a successful basketball career, but also have a quality life. 

Former Boston Celtics NBA champion and current ESPN NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins, a direct rival of Bryant's in the 2008 and 2010 NBA Finals, believes the Black Mamba's NBA story is the best story in the league's history, and says that not even LeBron's story is better. 

Perk was having this discussion with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN's First Take, and explains that after Kobe had won three championships with Shaq and the Lakers, Bryant dealt with lots of turmoil that affected his livelihood and lifestyle both on and off the court. 

Bryant lost endorsements and relationships due to problematic alleged off-court behavior, and had to work his way back up to the top in order to claim his fourth and fifth NBA championships with the Lakers. 

"When your livelihood is on the line, I wouldn't have shown up to work, but Kobe did," Perkins noted. "He basically had to work from the bottom and get back to the top, and he did that."

There are a lot of truths to what Perk said on First Take - the idea that Kobe had to overcome the possible shadow of Shaquille O'Neal in order to be recognized as an NBA great is something that can't possibly fathomed very easily. 

From dealing with an affair at home to being booed at every stadium he played at for years, the mamba mentality was clearly effective as Bryant went on to win two more championships and two NBA Finals MVPs in the process. 

Today, the Mamba Mentality lives through players all over the NBA and fans try to implement it in their every day lives. 

As dearly as he is missed, there's no doubt he has solidified his legacy and impact on the game of basketball.

He doesn't have two jerseys retired with one of the greatest sports franchises in the world for nothing. 

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