ESPN Only Ranks Kobe Bryant 40th Best Player In The NBA

ESPN is one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world. But, for whatever reason, they decided to play like an Internet minnow looking for attention and straight trolled Kobe Bryant by rating him only the 40th best player in the NBA.

Granted, Kobe just turned 36, missed most of last season with an injury, and has more miles on him than a Pinto. But the five-time NBA champion did average 27.3 points a games in 2012-2013, one of his best seasons in years.

Kobe is rated a 7.06, the same score as Andre Iguodala, who is ranked 39th. Klay Thompson with 7.08 is 38th.

ESPN, who are counting down the top 500 players, have yet to release the names of the 37 ballers they think are better than Kobe.

According to their website, this is how their rankings are based:

We asked our ESPN Forecast panel to predict the overall level of play for each player for the upcoming NBA season. This includes both the quality and the quantity of his expected contributions, combined in one overall rating.

We guess Kobe lost points for his lost 2012-2013 season. But it’s not like Iguodala — who’s missed big chunks of three of the last four seasons — is the picture of health. And Klay Thompson? Well, his dad was better than Kobe’s dad. So he has that going for him, we guess.

Anyway, given how psychotically competitive is Kobe is, we wouldn’t want to be Thompson or Iguodala when the Mamba comes to Golden State. Nor would we want to be about 37 other players when they have to square off against the Lakers great.

Where would you rank Kobe?