The basketball court has long been captivated by the allure of Michael Jordan, with countless players dreaming of the chance to face the legend on the court. From Allen Iverson’s crossover to Reggie Miller’s trash-talking showdowns, the opportunity to challenge His Airness became a rite of passage for a generation of NBA stars. But for one young prodigy, the pursuit of this dream would shape the very course of his career, leading him to make a decision that would change the landscape of basketball forever.

In a recent revelation on Byron Scott’s Fast podcast, former Lakers star John Salley dropped a bombshell about Kobe Bryant’s decision to skip college and enter the NBA draft straight out of high school. “I do know Kobe telling me. I said to him. I said why’d you, why’d you not go to college and he says I heard MJ was going to retire and that was his reason for not going to college. I said what? He goes, yeah he [MJ] was gonna retire and I wanted to make sure that I played against him. I didn’t want you know go to college and miss the opportunity of playing against MJ and I was like okay kid, that’s a good reason for not having a higher education,” said Salley during the podcast.

While Bryant’s decision to jump straight to the pros was influenced by multiple factors, this newfound insight adds a layer of complexity to the legacy of one of basketball’s greatest players. One of the other most prominent factor is that Kobe’ parents needed financial assistance at that time. The Los Angeles Lakers great wanted to play under coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke but his parents were not in the position to make the move so Bryant wanted to help them. “Kobe had very mixed feelings about that. He wanted to go play for Mike Krzyzewski [Coach K] at Duke, but his parents, what people didn’t realize, his parents were badly in need of money,” said famous sportswriter Roland Lazenby in an interview with The SportsRush.

Fate would grant Kobe his wish, as he entered the league in Jordan’s final seasons with the Chicago Bulls. Their first regular-season meeting came on December 17, 1996, at the United Center in Chicago. Kobe played just 10 minutes off the bench in a Lakers loss, scoring five points, but the moment launched the start of a mentor-mentee relationship. “He was serious. He was like I wanted to play against him. he felt he knew every single thing about him and he felt he had the same mentality and Kobe did man,” said Salley during the podcast.

Over the years, Kobe and Jordan would face off in several memorable encounters. In December 1997, Kobe scored 33 points against Jordan’s Bulls in a statement game that announced his arrival as a force in the league. Perhaps the most iconic moment between them came in the 2003 All-Star Game, Jordan’s final appearance in the midseason classic. It was a passing of the torch moment, with Kobe’s 22 points nearly overshadowing Jordan’s curtain call.

Eventually, the early entrance of Kobe Bryant into the NBA which was partly prompted by the wish to challenge Michael Jordan’s dominance, was the turning point in the history of basketball. However once ‘Black Mamba himself revealed that it was a tough decision to move to NBA without going to college.

When Kobe Bryant said that not going to college was a ‘tough decision’

Bryant was one of the few players in the NBA to go straight to the professional league after being declared as a draft prospect. However, according to him, it was a hard decision because as mentioned before, he wanted to go to Duke but couldn’t because of financial reasons.

Moreover in an interview with ESPN, ‘Black Mamba’ himself had shared the emotions that he had with not going to college. “That’s going to the NBA, whether to go to college instead… It’s a tough decision because you have the option of going to college and getting a great education and play some basketball or go to the NBA, play some basketball day and night and get paid for doing so but that’s a job and you have to realize that you’re going to be missing out on a big part of your life,” said Bryant during the interview.

Bryant left Lower Merion Highschool in 1996 after he was selected in the NBA draft as the No. 13 prospect by the Charlotte Hornets but he was quickly traded to the Los Angeles Lakers where he spent 20 years of his career. Looking back now it can be said that the decision made by No.24 indeed helped him to become one of the NBA’s greatest.