Why do some people rank Kobe Bryant as one of the top players despite arguments against it, and what makes this debate so passionate among fans?

It’s literally feelings over facts.

They ignore the stats and awards (because that would place Kobe in the fringe top 10) and their arguments are based only on feelings

-closest to Jordan and Jordan is the GOAT so Kobe must be #2 since he’s the closest (faulty logic)

-legendary work ethic and ‘mamba mentality’

-killer instinct, *perceived clutch ability* (statistically not actually clutch though)

-played through injuries, never took a night off (fans respect that)

-scored a lot of points in a flashy way (fans love that)

-stayed on one team (perceived loyalty despite him demanding a trade in the middle)

-won without a ‘superteam’ (i.e only needed one other all-star to win)

-More rings, better Finals record (casuals love this argument)

which you’ll find is exactly the arguments used against Lebron in the GOAT convo

-Lebron flops (modern NBA game rules)

-Lebron does not have perceived killer instinct and clutch ability (statistically he does though)

-Lebron takes (regular season) games off, ‘load management’

-Lebron scores alot but not in a flashy way (Kobe perceived as more ‘skilled’)

-Lebron played on multiple teams

-Lebron needed ‘superteams’ to win (except for 2020, but that ring is discounted for reasons)

-Losing Finals record (casuals love this argument)

So you’ll see that feelings (things outside of stats/awards) are used for Kobe’s argument and against Lebron’s argument

Casual fans don’t care about stats/awards unless it fits their narrative i.e Kobe averaged 40 PPG in this one month! He has 12x All-Def! (but will ignore Lebron’s better stats in every category and huge lead in MVPs/FMVPs)