Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, a New Version of the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird Rivalry?

Johnson, a proven winner from high school to college, where his Michigan Lancers ended what could have been a perfect season for Bird and his Indiana Sycamores in the US NCAA national championship the year before, injected passion, love for the game and introduced "Showtime" basketball to the world of pro basketball.

On the other hand, Bird, who can't jump (that high), but grabs rebounds, don't dunk a lot, but plays stern defense, was a consummate winner-his trademark buzzer-beaters or game-winning baskets already part of NBA lore.

Together, Johnson and Bird revolutionized the NBA and made the pro basketball a globally accepted sport-the sport that sparked tremendous interest among the Europeans and even Asians. No wonder, the number of Europeans and a few Asians are starting to crowd the Americans for regular slots.

Johnson and the Lakers won five NBA titles during the 1980s, while Bird led the Celtics to three, leaving the crumbs to the Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons to win one each.

Fast forward to the present, the two likely players, who could spark some sort of a rivalry just like Johson and Bird did during the 1980s, are Kobe Bryant, also of the LA Lakers and Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Well, Bryant (31) already has won four NBA championships (2000-2002 and 2009), while James, just 25 years old, already led the Cavs to the 2007 runner-up honors.

With many fruitful years ahead of him, it appears that James can soon catch up on Bryant and earn his place among the NBA legends.

In fact, a Kobe-Lebron Finals face-off nearly took place in the 2009 season considering that the Lakers and the Cavs finished with the best records respectively, in the West and the East.

Orlando Magic however, came in to dash the supposed marketing gold rush by clobbering the Cavs and taking the Eastern Conference title in six games to earn the right to face the Lakers in the Finals.

Basketball has certainly grown to global proportions since the 1980s' Lakers-Celtics rivalry. Now, it's up to current NBA stars Bryant and James to take the lead and lift the level further for pro basketball to break some more records and barriers.