Kobe Bryant vs Magic Johnson All Time

For a long time there has always been a long debate about who is greater between the two greatest Lakers, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson. For this article I will be looking at each players all time ability at various basketball aspects such as scoring playmaking defense, etc. Along with their prime peak longevity and playoff resilience/ Performance. I will not be looking at things such as accolades rings skill even though some criteria's value those and I will respect those opinions but I personally don't.

First we will compare their scoring ability (prime peak and then longevity). For his prime (01-11) Kobe averaged 39.3 IA PTS/100 on 59.3 IA TS% and in the PO he averaged 37.4 IA PTS/100 on 58.5 IA TS%. Kobe also has one of the best scoring peaks of all time (41.2 IA PTS/100 on 59.5 IA TS%) compared to magic who averaged 26.2 IA PTS/100 on 64.1 IA TS% (24.2 on 62.5 in the PO) and in his peak had 29.2 IA PTS/100 on 64.3 IA TS%. This is just a basic statistical Look. From the Film Kobe had a much better "bag" (or scoring versatility) than magic as Kobe was an elite scorer at all 3 levels and he had GOAT tier footwork. Magic didn't really develop an outside game until around 1989. Kobe also has a top 5 scoring gravity of all time while (from what ive seen) his gravity was mid until then although he had good rim gravity. I think this is a very easy win for Kobe as he scores on a much higher volume while both are efficient with Kobe having much higher scoring versatility and scoring gravity.

Now we move onto playmaking ability. in his prime Kobe had a 25.2 AST% with an 8.37 cTOV% along with an adjusted Box OC of 10.2 (10.3 adjusted for O Load) and an adjusted Passer rating of 6.5 and he had a spacing rating of 115 (average is 100). Magic on the other hand had a 41.1 AST% with an 11.61 cTOV% and a 14.8 Adjusted box OC (17.5 Adjusted for Load) and a 9.2 adjusted passer rating and a spacing rating of 95.8. While Kobe has more scoring gravity and overall gravity magics playmaking gravity was insanely high especially out of transition which makes sense as Magic is the best Transition playmaker ever. Kobe had very good vision and was great at creating a shot out of a double. Magic also had great vision and was able to make very tough passes at the rim. magic is easily a better passer than Kobe which can be seen statistically or from magics ability to hit cutters and post ups through tight windows. off ball wise magic wasnt a great off ball player, he usually needed the ball in his hands and didnt move without it. Kobe on the other hand was a great and active off ball player During the shaq and Pau era he was one of the best off ball players in the NBA but he had 2 3 year stretches (05-07 and 11-13) where he was less active off ball . Magic is very clear although both are all time playmakers (Kobe around top 25, Magic being the GOAT).

now I will look at overall offensive ability. i think this is very close and depending on if you value peak or longevity more i can see it either way. As already discussed kobe was the much better scorer while magic was the much better playmaker the scoring gap is bigger than the playmaking gap. offensive rebounding is something that matters slightly when judging offensive ability. Magic has a higher ORB% (5.7-3.5) and had a higher rORB% (-.8 to -1.9). from just looking at these three parts Kobe is better but now lets look at offensive metrics. in his prime kobe had

60.8 Offensive Efficiency% (TS% that adjusts for creation and turnovers)

9.5 OWS/82

5.5 OBPM 2.0

4 BP OBPM

5.29 ORAPTOR

4.3 ApOPM (3.3 when filtering for sample size)

Magic

72% Offensive efficiency%

10.1 OWS/82

6 OBPM 2.0

4.4 BP OBPM

6.81 ORAPTOR

5.5 ApOPM (2.6 when filtering for sample size)

So Offensive metrics believe that Magic was more impactful than kobe prime for prime in the RS but it should be noted these are box score metrics (outside of ApOPM) that shouldnt be your entire basis of your argument. Now peak for peak i think magic was no question better as by 1990 he was not only a GOAT tier playmaker he was also one of the best scorers in the NBA. I think 06 Kobe is one of the best offensive seasons ever but i think Magic has two GOAT tier offensive seasons in 90 and 91. now Longevity is where Kobe kills magic because Kobe was a high quality offensive player from 1998 to 2013 ( he was a small positive in 2015 as well). that is longer than magics entire career. I value longevity over peak but i can see it either way. Now the last part we need to look at is PO resilience. here is each players resilience statistically.

Kobe

-1.8 PTS/100

-.3 AST/100

-.3 ORB/100

+.2 TOV/100 (.2 less TOV/100)

-.7 rTS%

-1 Offensive Efficiency%

-.3 OWS/82

+.1 OBPM 2.0

-.34 Box OC

-2 O Load

-.42 ORAPTOR

Magic

-1.5 PTS/100

+.6 AST/100

-.1 ORB/100

+.5 TOV/100

-1.5 rTS%

-2.26 Offensive Efficiency%

-.1 OWS/82

+.1 OBPM 2.0

-1.44 Box OC

-1.8 O Load

+.13 ORAPTOR

Now i think that Kobe having a noticeably lower O Load compared to the RS and having insanely high Defensive attention against very Hard Defensive competition explains is lower box numbers and Metrics. Magic also has heavy D attention and a lower load but the defenses magic faced were much worse than Kobe's. Kobe faced by far the hardest Playoff Competition ever and magic had very easy PO matchups as he benefitted from a very weak west. They have similar Resilience at glance but i think when we apply context Kobe is more resilient.

Next is Defense and I don't think this is very close. In his peak Kobe was one of the best perimeter defenders ever and he has around 6 elite defensive seasons while Magic was always teetering from a slight - to a slight +. Kobe was always a great defender on ball even years where he was having defensive down years such as 2005. what would kill Kobe's defensive value in those years was that he wouldn't stay engaged for large portions of games, only small stretches and his off ball defense was questionable. I think Kobe was at least a neutral defender until 2011. as for defensive analytics in his prime Kobe had a

13 DRB%

2.2 STL%

.9 BLK%

3.5 DWS/82

.1 DBPM 2.0

.8 BP DBPM

.23 DRAPTOR

compared to magic's

15.8 DRB%

2.5 STL%

.6 BLK%

4.1 DWS/82 1.6 DBPM 2.0

2 BP DBPM

.91 DRAPTOR

Now using box metrics alone to determine defensive ability is dumb in my opinion but they should be given slight value. some of these stats can be inflated or deflated by team performance and since magic constantly played on great defenses his stats are inflated. I think Kobe is very clear of magic as a defender.

Now that we've looked at different basketball aspects lets compare their longevity. Kobe has GOAT Tier Longevity. He had High Quality (All Star or better) 15 seasons which is more than the vast majority of Players in NBA history . Magic on the other hand has 11 High Quality seasons. If Magic didnt have to retire early he would probably have GOAT tier longevity and a GOAT case but his Longevity gets held back by retiring in his peak.

Most of this article the answer has been pretty clear outside of playoff resilience and offensive ability. The most controversial part of this debate is who was greater peak for peak between the two. This, like offensive ability, is very close but its even closer. Kobe himself has a very controversial peak as alot of people have him as high as top 3 and as low as fringe top 15 (benja) but most people that i know of have Magics peak in the 7-12 range. i have both of them around this range of 7-12. Magic at his peak was an elite scorer, GOAT Tier Playmaker, but a bad defender and these include some of the best offensive seasons of all time like 1990 and 1991. In Kobe's peak he was a GOAT Tier Scorer, An All Time playmaker, and a good defender. This includes one of the best offensive and overall floor raising seasons in NBA History in 2006. Magic was better than kobe peak for peak offensively while Kobe was better defensively. Who was better all comes down to how big you think the gaps are in each. I can go either way honestly but probably give Kobe the edge because of the PO. Kobe's 2008 and 2009 Playoffs are two fringe top 25 Playoff runs ever in my opinion and comparable (and In my opinion better) to Magic's two best Playoff runs 1987 and 1988.

So here is my opinion on who is better between the two. I think their is a pretty sizeable gap between Kobe and Magic Johnson. The longevity gap is far higher than The peak gap. Kobe also has much better two way ability he's a much better scorer and can very easily be argued as a better Playoff performer. I can Maybe see an argument for Magic but i think Kobe is clearly better.

Thank You for reading my article.