Dwyane Wade Defends Lakers Legend After Disrespect Goes Viral

Although Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant never joined forces during their illustrious NBA careers, two of the greatest shooting guards in history always had strong mutual respect.

When Bryant passed away, the Heat legend was present at the memorial service for the Los Angeles Lakers icon. Recently, Bryant was placed at No. 11 in Bleacher Report's all-time player rankings, which clearly upset Wade when he saw it.

The three-time NBA champion jumped to Bryant's defense, sounding off on the article that put him outside the top 10.

"If you want to ask us hoopers who played against Kob, all of us gonna talk top three," Wade said on his podcast. "If you played against Mamba. It's someone's opinion, but someone who's never played against Kobe has never played a game of basketball at the level we play it at. Having him at 11—why am I up in arms about something like that?"

For context, Stephen Curry (No. 10), Wilt Chamberlain (No. 9), and Larry Bird (No. 8) slotted above Bryant in B/R's story. If Wade's opinion about the Hall of Famer were true, he would push Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, or Michael Jordan out of the top three.

Social media posts related specifically to Bryant coming in behind Curry have gone viral, gathering hundreds of thousands of views.