Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers share a laugh during a November 2012 NBA game. The two will be among those inducted as the class of 2020 -- Bryant posthumously after his death in a helicopter crash -- into the
Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers share a laugh during a November 2012 NBA game. The two will be among those inducted as the class of 2020 -- Bryant posthumously after his death in a helicopter crash -- into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

A veteran analyst has made a wild claim about Kobe Bryant that some fans may not be happy to hear.

Fox Sports’ Shannon Sharpe is known in the sports world, particularly in the NBA, for being outspoken about his views. Speaking recently in his own podcast, “Club Shay Shay,” Sharpe weighed in on Jamal Crawford’s take on the NBA’s “top 5” players of all time after the latter said he “can’t respect any top 5 list without Bryant on it.”

According to Sharpe, he doesn’t consider Bryant one of the top five players in the history of the NBA because of his lack of MVP awards.

“In the history of sports, I don’t know if we have ever had a guy rank top 5 with only 1 MVP,” Sharpe told Crawford.

Responding to a Twitter user who did not approve of his exclusion of Bryant, Sharpe explained the reasoning behind it.

“I base my GOATs on multiple regular season MVPs, championships with multiple finals MVP,” the 53-year-old tweeted. “This is how “I” judge it. This list isn’t right or wrong, it’s mine. ”

“IF* it’s just titles, [Bill] Russell is the goat, case closed,” he added. “We use titles, Mvps, All star gms, all NBA, pts and other metrics.”

Individually, the late Los Angeles Lakers legend is fourth in the NBA’s all-time scoring list, amassing a total of 33,643 points. The said figure also makes him the Lakers’ all-time points leader.

Atop that, Bryant is also an 18-time NBA All-Star and a five-time champion. However, Bryant only won the MVP award once in his 20-year NBA career.

Sharpe has always been vocal about his admiration of Bryant’s friend and Lakers successor, LeBron James. In fact, he has said several times in the past that “King James” is the greatest player of all time.

The so-called “GOAT debate” has long been a hot topic in the NBA, with James, Bryant and Michael Jordan as the usual candidates.

In one of his last TV show appearances, Bryant was quizzed on his real thoughts on the debate.

“You know what I’m going to answer, but I’m not going to answer it cause everybody is going to sit there and debate about it,” Bryant said, before adding, “Alright! Fine! I’m the best, Michael (Jordan) is second best, LeBron (James) is third.”

Kobe Bryant (L) of the Los Angeles Lakers holds the Larry O'Brian trophy as teammate Shaquille O'Neal (L) hold the MVP trophy after winning the NBA Championship against Indiana Pacers 19 June, 2000

Kobe Bryant (L) of the Los Angeles Lakers holds the Larry O'Brian trophy as teammate Shaquille O'Neal (L) hold the MVP trophy after winning the NBA Championship against Indiana Pacers 19 June, 2000 Photo: Getty Images | AFP/AFP