Dwyane Wade up in arms about Kobe Bryant’s ranking outside the top 10 of controversial list

NBA fans and players alike have been critical about Bleacher Report ranking Kobe Bryant outside the top 10 in their list of the top 100 NBA Players of all time. On Wednesday, Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade joined those speaking out, clearly upset with the decision.

NBA Central posted a clip of Wade on X (formerly Twitter) as he lashed out at BR on his podcast.

“If you want to ask us, Hoopers, who played against Kobe, we’re talking,” Wade said. “All of us are going to talk top three. Like, we’re all going to talk top three if you played against Mamba.

"But from someone's opinion that has never played against Kobe or never played a game of basketball at the level that we play it at—having him in 11th—why am I up in arms about something like that."

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Continuing his rant on the subject, Wade explained how Kobe once shut down these "rankers" in the past.

"I remember when Kobe was alive. They had rankers, and he wasn't even playing in the league," he said. "Kobe addressed it, like, 'Who are these idiots? Why would I listen to these idiots?'

Published by Bleacher Report on July 14, the list was put together by the platform’s NBA experts, writers and editors. Kobe Bryant landed at No. 11, making the list controversial. According to the panel, his highest rank was fourth — but one voter placed him as low as 18th.

The top 10 in chronological order featured Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Steph Curry.

Dwyane Wade reveals how Kobe Bryant winning his fifth championship formed Miami's Big Three

Throughout its history, the NBA has witnessed several super teams, including the Miami Heat, led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who dominated the early 2010s.

Wade revealed the big three wouldn't have formed if not for Kobe Bryant.

"I was pissed because now Kobe had five championships," Wade said. "I had one. Bron didn’t have any. He was leaving us behind. How were we supposed to compete with that?" he said "It started with just me and Bron. And then it was like … we can get three. Chris Bosh fit perfectly with our personalities."

The trio won two championships before LeBron moved to Cleveland.

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About the author

Arian Kashyap

Arian Kashyap is a basketball journalist at Sportskeeda with over two years of experience at Essentially Sports and Spice Bite and a Bachelor's in Physical Education and Sports Sciences.

Arian's favorite team is the Miami Heat and it’s mainly down to Dwyane Wade being his favorite player of all time. Arian loved how explosive Wade was as a player and he had all the attributes, whether that be shooting, defending or passing. Arian really liked how he won titles both with and without a dynasty behind him.

Arian has also worked with Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools and was the manager for a Delhi-based women’s team called Garwhal Untied. Garwhal won the Delhi league and were runners-up during his tenure.

Arian has judged essay writing competitions for the Commonwealth Students Welfare Group of India in 2023 and was a part of the U-14 team for the Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools academy that qualified for the AIFF Round in 2023.

When not working or watching sports, Arian likes riding his motorcycle and reading.

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