Kobe Bryant is one of the 2-3 best basketball players to never go to college. You can make the case that he’s the best player to make the jump from high school to the NBA, although many would argue that LeBron James has taken Kobe’s place atop that particular hoops mantle.
Still, the future hall of famer went from Lower Merion High School to the NBA Draft without having to make that pesky pit stop in college. As for where he would have gone if there was a rule similar to the one-and-done rule that exists right now, well, that’s kind of up in the air.
Kobe contended for years that he would have attended Duke if he played collegiate ball. In 2013, though, he told Jimmy Kimmel that while he loves Mike Krzyzewski, he would have attended North Carolina with the hopes of playing against Vince Carter every day.
Now, Kobe is going back to his roots and picking the Blue Devils. He posted to Twitter on Sunday night that he would have spent his college years in Durham, partly because legendary Tar Heels coach Dean Smith stopped recruiting him and actually kind of encouraged him to go pro.
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) November 20, 2017
Maybe but Coach Smith stopped recruiting me. He thought I would go pro and wished me luck. Coach K kept at it. https://t.co/xS6OD8SmEV
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) November 20, 2017
It’s a good thing that Kobe went to the NBA, because he managed to establish himself as one of the greatest to ever play the game. Still, trying to figure out the school that would have made for his best college destination is a fun (if ultimately very silly) thing to imagine, especially if he decides to keep this up and change his answer on where he would have attended every few years.