I think 2001 Kobe has a case.
He averaged 29/7/6 on 47% shooting in the playoffs and is overall probably his best playoff year of his career. This is an all time stat line for a second option player.
We can compare this to other great second options in NBA history in the playoffs:
1972 Wilt Chamberlain (1st option West) – 15/21/3/46%
1974 Dave Cowens (1st option Havlicek) – 21/13/4/43%
1980 Magic Johnson (1st option Kareem) – 18/9/10/52%
2016 Kyrie Irving (1st option Lebron) – 25/3/5/47%
2017 Steph Curry (1st option KD) – 28/6/7/48%
2020 Anthony Davis (1st option Lebron) – 28/10/3/57%
2021 Khris Middleton (1st option Giannis) – 24/7/5/44%
2023 Jamal Murray (1st option Jokic) – 26/6/7/47%
Amongst these I think 2017 Curry, 2020 AD and 2023 Murray all have a case along with 2001 Kobe as the best 2nd option in NBA history.
I might actually go with 2017 Curry because in 2017 he and KD really were 1a and 1b and it was almost impossible to tell who was the 1st option and who was the 2nd. If 2017 KD was the 2nd option then he’d also easily be the best 2nd option ever.
But yeah 2001 Kobe is one of the top 5 sidekicks in NBA history
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