ESPNโs NBA Countdown crew really set Jamie Foxx up to fail on Wednesday night. Foxxโwho is currently out promoting his new film, Sleeplessโstopped by the set of the show during halftime of the Trail Blazers/Warriors game, and he was asked to take a look at a meme that Tracy McGrady had posted on his Instagram earlier in the night. That meme featured six NBA playersโHakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, and Shaquille OโNealโand the line, "Name the worst player in this picture."
There really is no right answer to the questionโeveryone has a different opinion on it and, if you take a look at the comments onย McGradyโs original IG post, youโll see that every player in the photo received votes from fansโso regardless of what Foxx said, he would have been both right and wrong. But Foxx created some controversy when he took one quick glance at the players in the photo and then took about two seconds to choose the player he would label as the "worst" on the list: Kobe Bryant.
Foxx then provided this explanation as to why he would remove Kobe from the list over any of the other players. He also talked about why Duncan would be the other player he would consider removing:
The only reason Iโm saying it is because, if weโre trying to build a team, I think the team aspect of the players is a little different than the Kobe Bryant ofโฆ
Foxx wasnโt the only one on the set who selected Kobe. Not surprisingly, Jalen Roseโwho played a big part in Kobe's epic 81-point game in 2006โdid, too. But Foxx provided his answer so quickly that, within just minutes, NBA fans were going in on him on social media for picking Kobe. They didnโt appreciate his explanation for choosing him, and they essentially told Foxx to stick to acting over talking hoops.
Here were some of the strongest reactions to Foxxโs selection:
As we mentioned, there really is no right answer to this question. But weโve gotta ask: Who would you label as the "worst" NBA player of the six guys mentioned? Good luck trying to decide.