“His parents were badly in need of money” – Kobe Bryant wanted to play for Duke but jumped straight to the NBA to support his family originally appeared on Basketball Network.
The late Kobe Bryant was the player most agreed was the closest thing to Michael Jordan. Bryant was not shy to admit that he patterned his game after MJ and copied everything he could from the Chicago Bulls legend, even his mannerisms and movement.
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But while Kobe never really surpassed MJ in terms of greatness, former Chicago Bulls assistant coach Tex Winter, who was also an assistant for the L.A. Lakers, told book author Roland Lazenby that Bryant could have become as good or even better than MJ. However, he did not go to college.
“The real thing that made the difference in Tex’s mind was that Michael Jordan went to college and played three years of college ball,” said Lazenby in an exclusive interview with The Sportrush.
Kobe was not ready yet when he entered the NBA
Jordan did not enter the NBA draft until he was 21. At that point, he had already won an NCAA championship, the College Player of the Year award, and an Olympic gold medal. When he arrived in the NBA, he was more than ready. Mr. Air immediately took the league by storm and held it in the palm of his hand until he retired.
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Meanwhile, Bryant went straight to the pros from Lower Merion High School. Although he was a high school phenom, he struggled to adjust to the NBA in his first two seasons.
It wasn’t until his third season in the league that Kobe earned starter status and started to dominate. Winter believed that he could have started on the right foot if he had had college experience. However, that wasn’t his choice.
“He [Tex Winter] said that Kobe didn’t go to college. Kobe had very mixed feelings about that. He wanted to go play for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, but his parents, what people didn’t realize, his parents were badly in need of money,” Lazenby added.
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Kobe sued his parents in 2013
While there are no reports that Joe and Pamela Bryant were in financial trouble right before the five-time champ turned pro, it’s worth noting that even long after Kobe’s star had already shone in the NBA, they seemed to be in need of money.
In fact, Bryant and his parents went to court after they sold over 100 pieces of memorabilia, including trophies, plaques, medals, championship rings, and game-worn uniforms, without his permission. They ended up settling the issue with his parents apologizing to Kobe.
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However, this incident happened in 2013, or nearly two decades after Kobe skipped college and went to the pros. Whether Joe’s career earnings dried up in 1995 or 1996 is unclear, but in 2020, Bryant did tell the All the Smoke podcast that he regretted going straight to the NBA from high school. To be fair, though, he never blamed his parents for not going to college.
Kobe once said that if he had gone to college, he would have picked between Duke and North Carolina. Whether it was going to be Coach K or the same Dean Smith who molded Mike, just imagine how good Black Mamba would have been right away in the NBA if he had college basketball experience. Would that have made a difference in how his career unfolded? Tex thought so.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 19, 2025, where it first appeared.