Kobe Bryant was announced as a member of the 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame class, along with Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. Bryant died in January when his helicopter crashed in the hills of Los Angeles, shocking and saddening the basketball world.
Now that he will be enshrined in Springfield with other legends of the sport on Aug. 29, it's a good time to examine his most epic scoring battles against other Hall of Famers -- both current and future. What constitutes a future Hall of Famer? Any player with at least a 90% probability in Basketball-Reference.com's projections. Because of his durability (1,346 games played, 14th on the all-time list), Kobe crossed paths with many stars who share his Hall of Fame résumé. We examined his head-to-head scoring against all Hall of Fame players of his era.
Related: Kobe remembrances and reaction from the sports world
Below are the highest-scoring-combined Hall of Fame matchups from Kobe's career against both current and future honorees, along with a nod to his 2020 classmates.
Current Hall of Famers
Yao Ming
52.6 combined PPG (Bryant: 31.1, Yao: 21.5)
23 games, 2003-10
Shaquille O'Neal
51.7 combined PPG (Bryant: 35.0, O'Neal: 16.7)
11 games, 2004-11
Allen Iverson
49.3 combined PPG (Bryant: 24.0, Iverson: 25.3)
29 games, 1996-2010
Michael Jordan
47.3 combined PPG (Bryant: 22.8, Jordan: 24.5)
8 games, 1996-2003
Karl Malone
47.0 combined PPG (Bryant: 22.4, Malone: 24.6)
25 games, 1996-2003
Other current Hall of Famers vs. Kobe
• Tracy McGrady: 44.8 combined PPG (21 games)
• Ray Allen: 43.5 (37 games)
• Gary Payton: 42.1 (28 games)
• Grant Hill: 41.8 (34 games)
• Dominique Wilkins: 41.3 (3 games)
• Reggie Miller: 41.3 (15 games)
• Steve Nash: 40.7 (47 games)
• Charles Barkley: 39.1 (7 games)
• John Stockton: 38.1 (23 games)
• Alonzo Mourning: 37.8 (10 games)
• David Robinson: 36.7 (19 games)
• Scottie Pippen: 36.2 (21 games)
• Hakeem Olajuwon: 35.8 (11 games)
• Vlade Divac: 35.3 (24 games)
• Jason Kidd: 34.0 (41 games)
• Mitch Richmond: 33.9 (8 games)
• Arvydas Sabonis: 31.4 (19 games)
• Patrick Ewing: 31.4 (10 games)
• Dikembe Mutombo: 30.3 (21 games)
• Clyde Drexler: 29.5 (4 games)
• Chris Mullin: 28.6 (9 games)
• Joe Dumars: 24.0 (4 games)
• Dino Rada: 21.0 (1 game)
• Dennis Rodman: 20.3 (3 games)
• Robert Parish: 8.0 (2 games)
• Sarunas Marciulionis: 7.0 (1 game)
Future Hall of Famers
LeBron James
52.8 combined PPG (Bryant: 24.6, James: 28.2)
22 games, 2004-16
Related: Most likely Hall of Famer on every NBA roster
Kevin Durant
52.7 combined PPG (Bryant: 25.4, Durant: 27.3)
25 games, 2007-16
Dwyane Wade
50.4 combined PPG (Bryant: 26.1, Wade: 24.3)
20 games, 2003-16
Carmelo Anthony
50.2 combined PPG (Bryant: 26.7, Anthony: 23.5)
29 games, 2003-16
Stephen Curry
49.9 combined PPG (Bryant: 26.9, Curry: 22.9)
15 games, 2009-16
Other future Hall of Famers vs. Kobe
• Chris Paul: 48.5 combined PPG (32 games)
• Anthony Davis: 48.4 (7 games)
• Dirk Nowitzki: 48.3 (49 games)
• Paul Pierce: 47.9 (26 games)
• Russell Westbrook: 46.0 (22 games)
• Chris Bosh: 46.4 (18 games)
• Pau Gasol: 45.8 (24 games)
• James Harden: 43.8 (19 games)
• Dwight Howard: 42.4 (20 games)
• Tony Parker: 41.7 (38 games)
• Vince Carter: 39.6 (31 games)
What about the 2020 class?
Kevin Garnett
43.0 combined PPG (Bryant: 23.5, Garnett: 19.5)
51 games, 1996-2015
Tim Duncan
42.3 combined PPG (Bryant: 23.8, Duncan: 18.5)
52 games, 1997-2016