LeBron James and Kobe Bryant faced off Wednesday night in what was likely their penultimate head-to-head matchup. James came out on top, but he still does, and always has, looked up to the legend that is Kobe Bryant. Bryant has already announced that he will not compete in the 2016 Olympics because he felt his time has passed, but that may influence other players' decisions, including James'. It is a possibility that LeBron won't play in the 2016 Olympics for Team USA because of Bryant's absence, according to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report.
James has never been a lock to play in Rio, where the 2016 Olympics will be held, but this report makes it seem less likely than it originally was. When asked prior to the season, he said that he would go through the NBA season with the Cleveland Cavaliers and see how he felt physically after it before deciding if he would compete.
After James heard the news that Bryant had pulled his name from consideration for the Olympics, he was disappointed that he wouldn't get one more chance to play alongside his idol. When asked if he was any closer to making a decision on the Olympics, James responded by saying, "the last time I thought about Team USA was Kobe taking his name out of the pool," which doesn't seem to bode well for Team USA.
James has said that he has worshipped Bryant since the beginning, and when the 20-year veteran announced his retirement earlier this season, he said it was "truly sad for me." Bryant and James played together on the 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams, when they won gold medals, and although they never met up in an NBA finals, they have been linked in another interesting way recently. The relationship between these two legends doesn't get all that much publicity, but they are very close and it seems like a realistic possibility that James will skip the Olympics as a way of honoring the fact that Bryant won't be there.
Not having James would obviously hurt the U.S., as he is the best player in the world, but the good news is that the team has plenty of talent to choose from. The U.S. will likely enter the Rio Olympics as the favorites with or without James. That is helped by the fact that one of its biggest competitors, Spain, may be without one of its top players when the games come around in August.
