So former NBA players are Lakers stans now?
Back in 2017-2018 when Kobe was still alive you had NBA players like Iverson, T-Mac, Vince, Shaq, Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson, Jim Jackson, etc. in the media saying Kobe should be in the GOAT debate ahead of LeBron. A.I. famously said "did they forget"?
So like most Bron stans you are completely lying. The only people who actively try to downplay Kobe's career are non-athletes in the media. All that happened since Kobe died is they toned down their disrespect. The former players however haven't changed their tune. They were singing Kobe's praises before his death. All Kobe's death did was show haters like you just how much he was revered by people around the world.