ESPN ranked Kobe Bryant as the 40th-best NBA player last October, heading into the 2014-15 season.
He responded by calling them a "bunch of idiots" and leading the NBA in scoring at one point, before undergoing a season-ending surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in late January. Still, being 36 at the time and averaging 22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists through 35 games isn't a shabby feat.
That said, let's see how the Black Mamba responds to NBA 2K16 giving him a player rating of 85, Bryant's lowest player rating ever. Some respect for the player who has appeared in every title of the popular series thus far.
But the combination of Bryant coming off another season-ending surgery, being 37 years old and entering his 20th NBA season was enough for 2K to drop his player rating to a more age-appropriate number.
The five-time NBA champion and future Hall of Famer's player ratings have been sliding since NBA 2K9, when he had a 99 attached to his name to last year's 89 and now 85. For what it's worth, though, 2K timed a cameo of a chest-thumping Bryant during the words "can't never count me out" in its newly released "#WINNING" gameplay trailer set to the sounds of DJ Khaled's "All I Do is Win."
If there's one player who fans and critics alike shouldn't count out, it's Bryant. This could very well turn out to be the final year of Bryant's legendary career, but you have to figure that even a Black Mamba at 70 percent still has some venom left.
We'll see if Bryant can make 2K eat its player rating.
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