Kobe Bryant made unexpected pick when naming the best five players he faced during his NBA career

Kobe Bryant once named the five best players he encountered during his NBA career with some big names and others less well known on the list.

Bryant spent the entirety of his 20-year basketball career with the LA Lakers and his time on the court cemented his status as one of basketball's GOATs.

During 1996 and 2016, Bryant was crowned NBA champion on five occasions with the Lakers and was twice named the NBA Finals MVP, as well as being voted the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2008.

Tragically, Bryant died at the age of only 41 in January 2020 when he and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were among nine people who were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas in California.

Bryant's career coincided with several other contenders for basketball's GOAT and it includes the likes of Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.

And it was no surprise that back in 2015 when Bryant was asked in a conference call with reporters about the top five players he'd hooped against during his career, a couple of those names cropped up.

It included the likes of Jordan and James, who have both had legendary careers in the game.

MJ is a six-time NBA champion following his time with the Chicago Bulls and was crowned the MVP in the NBA Finals a total of six times.

Kobe Bryant once named the top five players he'd faced in his career. (Image: Getty)

James meanwhile has become NBA Champion four times across a career which has seen him represent the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and now the Lakers, whom Bryant used to play for.

But Bryant - who also won two Olympic gold medals with the USA at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 - also named Hakeen Olajuwon, Kevin Durant and Clyde Drexler among the quintet of the best he had faced in the NBA.

Olajuwon represented the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors in his career, winning two NBA crowns with the Rockets in 1994 and 1995, and being named the NBA Finals MVP in both of those years.

Durant also become NBA champion twice in 2017 and 2018 with the Golden State Warriors, while his career also saw him play for the Seattle SuperSonics who then morphed into the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as stints with the Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns and he is now with the Houston Rockets.

And Drexler became NBA champion with the Rockets in 1995 along with Olajuwon, an accolade which came towards the end of his career after the bulk of it was spent with the Portland Trail Blazers.