LeBron James has had some memorable moments throughout his six seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, but the future Hall of Famer wasn’t always confident that L.A. fans would accept him when he first signed with the organisation.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Dave McMenamin, James “privately questioned whether Laker Nation would ever fully embrace him” due to previous matchups with Kobe Bryant earlier in his career.

When James decided to join the Lakers in the summer of 2018, there were various reports that Bryant’s fans were not ready to welcome him.

Bryant even addressed the topic in August 2018 on The Rich Eisen Show (h/t Anthony Irwin of Silver Screen and Roll):

“… If you’re a fan of mine, then you’re a fan of winning; you’re a fan of the Lakers. I bleed purple and gold, so that’s above anything else. I’ve been a Laker fan since I was yay high. That’s never going to change, right. And it’s about winning championships, so they’ll (those fans will) fall in line.”

There was never a true rivalry between James and Bryant because they never met in the NBA Finals. Nike attempted to create a rivalry in 2009 by airing a series of commercials showing the two superstars as puppets.

Things did not work out since James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were defeated in the Eastern Conference Finals. Bryant led the Lakers to a championship in the NBA Finals, defeating the Orlando Magic.

 James has been able to establish his own legacy in Los Angeles. He led the franchise to a championship in the 2019-20 season. On February 7, 2023, he passed Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

On Saturday night, against the Denver Nuggets, James became the first NBA player to reach 40,000 points in his career.