"Listen, if you are fan of mine, you are a fan of winning" - Kobe Bryant had a message to his fans who didn’t want LeBron James to come to the Lakers

“Listen, if you are fan of mine, you are a fan of winning” – Kobe Bryant had a message to his fans who didn’t want LeBron James to come to the Lakers originally appeared on Basketball Network.

It wasn’t a press conference. It wasn’t even about basketball.

Just a few minutes on “The Rich Eisen Show” in late 2018 — but in true Kobe Bryant fashion, it was sharp and piercing in its clarity.

“I hear that,” he said when asked whether he knew some of his fans resented LeBron James wearing a Lakers jersey. “But listen, if you are fan of mine, you are a fan of winning, you are a fan of the Lakers. I bleed purple and gold. So, that is above anything else.”

It had only been a few months since James stunned the basketball world by signing with the Lakers — four years, $154 million, and a franchise suddenly reborn in relevance. But not everyone was thrilled.

Whispers of legacy invasion echoed through Los Angeles. The King wasn’t greeted with open arms by every corner of Laker Nation. Not when the house still belonged to Bryant.

LeBron to Hollywood

By the fall of 2018, the Lakers had been wandering.

Five straight losing seasons. A carousel of coaches. Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell — all flashes that faded. The post-Kobe era had been bleak. And then came the best player in the world, fresh off a remarkable run in the Eastern Conference that saw him reach eight consecutive NBA Finals.

He didn’t come quietly. His arrival meant expectations — immediate ones. Even with a roster that still had Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram, the basketball world put the Lakers among the West’s contenders.

But fans weren’t unanimous. Some felt his presence was too big, too foreign, too Miami, too Cleveland, too … not Kobe.

That’s when Bryant stepped in.

“I have been a Lakers fan since I was yay high. That is never going to change,” he said. “It’s about winning championships. So, they’ll fall in line.”

That line said everything.

It was support and direction from the Lakers’ undisputed leader and he was passing the torch with command, not ceremony. He knew what James represented: the bridge from the Lakers’ past to their future. And whether fans liked it or not, the future had arrived.

And when 2020 came, Bryant’s words aged like prophecy.

James, in his second full season with the Lakers, led the franchise to its 17th NBA championship inside the Orlando bubble. 27 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists per game during the playoffs. A dominant Finals against Miami. Championship No. 4. Finals MVP No. 4. All in the same year Bryant tragically passed.

LeBron dedicated it to him.

A legacy successfully carried?

Since then, the conversation has only grown louder. Statues. Banners. Legacy. Who stands where in the Laker pantheon?

James has passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He owns the league’s all-time scoring record. He’s played in more playoff games than anyone in NBA history. But still — for some, he’ll never be their Laker.

Bryant anticipated that, too. He knew what L.A. meant to him — what he meant to them. But he also knew something more permanent: time and titles win every argument. In his own way, he had already vouched for James. Already stamped him with gold-trimmed approval.

And he wasn’t wrong. Since James arrived in 2018, the Lakers have made four playoff appearances, won a title, reached a Western Conference Finals and brought championship relevance back to a franchise that had lost it.

It wasn’t always smooth. There were the injury-plagued seasons. The Russell Westbrook experiment. Coaching changes. But every year James has been in purple and gold, he’s been one of the best players in the league — even at 40. Even heading into his record-setting 23rd season.

Kobe perhaps saw that coming.

He didn’t entertain the noise. Didn’t care for the tribalism. In a city of stars, he reminded everyone what really mattered: winning!

So when fans draw lines between eras — between 8, 24, and 23 — they might want to remember what Bryant said first.

And in five years, with only one banner, James isn’t done yet. His legacy is still being written in the City of Angels.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 10, 2025, where it first appeared.

“Listen, if you are fan of mine, you are a fan of winning” – Kobe Bryant had a message to his fans who didn’t want LeBron James to come to the Lakers

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