LeBron James just secured his first MVP trophy in his 6th season as a player in the NBA. LeBron is hoping to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to their  first NBA title in 2008-09. He may have to go through Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers to win the championship.

How long did it take Kobe to win the MVP?

Kobe in fact had no MVP trophys on his mantle in his first 6 seasons. He received the honor for the first time 12 years into his NBA career in 2007-08.

How many titles did he have his first 6 years?

Kobe had 3 rings by the end of his 6th season, but he had a little more help in teammate Shaquille O’Neal.

Shaq took home MVP honors in 1999-2000, the first year he and Kobe led the team to an NBA Championship. In fact, many would argue the team had more weapons than just Shaq and Kobe.

Both LeBron and Kobe came straight from high school to the NBA, so this is truly an apples to apples look at the numbers!

Here is a statistical comparison of LeBron vs. Kobe in their first 6 years in the NBA.

LeBron James 6-8, 250 lbs

GAMES    STARTED    FG%    FT%    REBS    ASST    TO    ST    BK    PPG

472              471             47.1    73.8      7.0        6.7        3.2   1.8    .80    27.5

Kobe Bryant 6-6, 205 lbs

GAMES    STARTED    FG%    FT%    REBS    ASST    TO    ST    BK    PPG

414              267             45.8    82.5      4.6        3.8        2.5   1.3    .61    19.8

Source of Statistics: www.NBA.com

photo: AP