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Gilbert Arenas labels Lakers legend Kobe Bryant as franchise’s only ‘American Hero’

Kobe Bryant spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is widely considered the greatest player in franchise history — despite legends such as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, James Worthy, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James wearing the same uniform.

Each of those players were drafted first overall aside from West — who was taken second — and Chamberlain — who was a territorial pick. Meanwhile, Bryant was selected 13th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft. Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas recently made the case that his draft status and what he had to overcome makes him the franchise’s lone ‘American Hero’.

“If you do not know where Kobe started, you can’t (expletive) appreciate where he is now,” Gilbert Arenas claimed. “And that’s the problem. You want to make him 1B and don’t even realize, this man right here, he is the American Hero. He is what everybody wants to be.”

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“When you come from any other country over here trying to live the American dream, it ain’t LeBron James. It ain’t Magic. It ain’t Shaq,” Arenas continued. “That’s not the idea for you. It’s the Tom Brady’s, where he got drafted and who he became. It’s the Kobe Bryant’s, the only top-ten, top-20 player ever in this history of basketball to come off the bench for two years and even be ranked that high.”

Arenas added that every other player considered an all-time great was given the keys to the franchise upon being drafted. He noted that Bryant was the only player to earn the keys to the franchise and work his way that high into the all-time rankings.

Despite recent media discourse that has attempted to tear down the legacy of the five-time champion, Bryant is widely considered to be a top-five player of all-time. The peers who played against him generally have him as a top-three player, with many claiming that he is the second-best player of all-time.

More NBA: Former Celtics champion calls out recent disrespect of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant

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