Nope, none. Not D-Wade, not Bron Bron. Nobody: Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has always been lauded for his self-motivation and drive to be the best. It’s a good thing he has that internal ambition, because according to Bryant, he’s gone through his 16-year career without a true rival on the exterior to push him to succeed. “I didn’t have one,” Bryant said after scoring 38 points in the Lakers’ 115-107 win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday. Despite Bryant’s acknowledging that it’s not just another game, he wouldn’t characterize his relationship with LeBron James as a rivalry. “Not for me,” Bryant said. “I get up for everybody just the same, to be honest. It’s hard for me to turn my meter up any higher than it normally is.” OK, Bryant was asked, how about Dwyane Wade? After all, Wade plays shooting guard just as Bryant does, Wade has one Finals MVP trophy to Bryant’s two, and Wade has to be close to as competitive as Bryant or else he wouldn’t have given Bryant that hard foul across the face in the All-Star Game. “He’s too young,” Bryant said. “He’s too young. When I came into the league, he was in elementary school.” Bryant is three years older than Wade, but was already a seven-year veteran when Wade was drafted in 2003. Bryant said it is “a little late in the game” for him to develop a rivalry with any current NBA player, so instead he is chasing names in the record books rather than in box scores from the 2011-12 season. “At this point my rivals, in terms of what I have left to accomplish in my career, (left the game) when Magic (Johnson) and Michael (Jordan) retired in ’98,” Bryant said, referring to the second of Jordan’s three retirements that came after he won his sixth and final championship with the Chicago Bulls. “That’s it. In terms of what I’m looking to accomplish, that’s about it.” The San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan won four championships to Bryant’s five throughout their shared careers, but Bryant said while the Spurs might have qualified as a team rival to his Lakers, Duncan’s individual rivalry came against Shaquille O’Neal as a fellow big man. “He was never in my position,” Bryant said. “He was more Shaq’s rival than mine. As a team, the Spurs were always a team that we had to go through. So from that standpoint, yes, but in terms of personally, no. I’ve outgrown them all, from A.I. (Allen Iverson) when I first came in to (Tracy) McGrady to Vince Carter and so forth and so on.” Bryant said that he developed the desire to win multiple championships from an early age. “It’s always what I want to accomplish,” Bryant said. “That’s what you set your goals at. Growing up, watching them, they’ve always won multiple championships and that was always something that I felt like must be done. So, my goal originally when I was a kid and so forth, and when I was a teenager, always started from gauging them.” Although he makes a valid point, someone is certainly feelin himself wayyyyy to much. Source More On Bossip! Where’s Johnny Gill? A Gallery Of Women Eddie Murphy’s Allegedly Chopped Down Over That Ex? Joe Budden Tweets Pics Of His New Boo Thang…Thoughts? Girl Fight??? Rumors Swirl That Piff-Puffin’ Rih-Rih Ain’t Feelin’ Papa Hov Because He Gave Her Song To New-Booty Look Alike Rita Ora! Dancing With The Cakes: The Hottest Women In The History Of Dancing With The Stars
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Quote Of The Day: Kobe Bryant Says He Has No Rivals
