If you don't believe in yourself...nobo dy else will.

I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.

As far as carrying the torch for the years to come, I don't know. I just want to be the best basketball player I can be.

People look at my competitive spirit, and they automatically attach it to the thing that's most similar, most easily recognizable, which is Michael [Jordan's] competitive spirit. I'm different. I enjoy building. I enjoy the process of putting the puzzle together, and then the byproduct of that, the consequence of that, is beating somebody. That becomes the cherry on top, the icing on the cake.

I don’t want to say I’ll be back at the top of my game because everybody’s gonna think I’m crazy and it’s the old player not letting go sort of thing, but that’s what it’s gonna be.

There’s a reason why players that have multiple championships have multiple championships. There’s a certain characteristic and an understanding and knowledge and that’s not something that’s easily taught. You kind of have to go through it and it kind of has to be part of your DNA from the beginning.

If there were camera phones back in the day, the biggest athletes in the world would have had a lot of explaining to do.