Jason "White Chocolate" Williams felt the heat for saying Kobe Bryant is not a top-five all-time Laker -- and, now, he's retracting his statement, officially deeming the Black Mamba L.A.'s G.O.A.T.
The former point guard says he misunderstood the question on the "Players Choice" podcast last week when he said he was "not sure" if Bryant was a top-five Laker.
Jason Williams and Chltwn32 don’t have Kobe ranked very high in their All-Time players list 😳
— Players Choice (@PlayersChoice_) March 7, 2022
Where do you have Kobe All-Time? pic.twitter.com/PaFuc23muF
"In the conversation you all heard," Williams said in a lengthy post on his social media page Sunday, "my thinking was that we were talking about ALL the greatest NBA players EVER who wore the Laker purple and gold jersey for at least ONE season."
"I wasn’t talking about the greatest LAKER ever… because of course that’s Kobe!!! Kobe IS the Lakers!!! 💛💜"
In other words ... Williams says he thought the question was strictly from a basketball standpoint -- NOT what each player actually meant to the franchise.
In his IG statement, Williams explained he believes Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James are better hoopers than Bryant, but they don't mean nearly as much to L.A. as Kobe.
"My bad if I've hurt any of y’all feelings, it’s just my opinion!!!" Williams said. "I love this game and I respect this game!! It has nothing to do with Kobe bustin my team’s ass just about every time we played them either."
Seems Laker Nation -- which includes John Salley, who told us last week he definitely disagreed with JW -- will be happy with the retraction now.