Many regard Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant as the two greatest Los Angeles Lakers ever, and on Sunday, the former sent a touching message to the latter.
Bryant's 47th birthday was over the weekend, over five years after the NBA superstar tragically passed away in a helicopter crash.
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Johnson took to social media to send Bryant a heartfelt happy birthday message, including a photo of himself and a young Bryant.
The Lakers certainly have a long list of all-time great players. Wilt Chamberlain. Jerry West. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Shaquille O'Neal. LeBron James. You could go on and on. However, perhaps none of those players captured the hearts of Tinseltown like Johnson and Bryant.
Both Hall-of-Famers won five championships apiece in Los Angeles, and they did so in relatively similar fashion. Johnson teamed up with an all-time great center in Abdul-Jabbar to collect his five rings. Bryant won three of his five with O'Neal, the other two coming alongside of Pau Gasol.
Both Johnson and Bryant were big guards who could do a little bit of everything offensively, although Bryant definitely had the edge as a defender. They also each spent their entire professional careers with the Lakers, something most of the other Laker greats could not say.
Not only that, but many consider both Johnson and Bryant to be top 10 players in NBA history.
Bryant was originally selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft but was immediately traded to Los Angeles. The rest is history.
The Philadelphia native went on to make 18 All-Star teams with the Lakers while also winning back-to-back scoring titles in 2005-06 and 2006-07. That included Bryant scoring 81 points in a game against the Toronto Raptors in the former campaign.
While both Johnson and Bryant will always be remembered as two of the greatest legends the game has ever seen, Bryant may have the advantage over his predecessor thanks to his incredible worldwide impact.
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