When I was a kid growing up playing basketball, we all called out our favorite player's name when we made a certain move. I think Lebron called out "Kobe" and bombed on fools on the playground growing up. Kobe's 6 years older than Lebron. That's certainly enough of an age gap for him to pretend he was Kobe on the playground.
You ask any player in the NBA who they copied growing up, and they'll tell you who and what move. I think Lebron looked up to Kobe when he was a kid, and you can see it in his game.
On February 14, 2009, at the All-Star Game in Phoenix, when asked by Cheryl Miller whether he would participate in the 2010 Slam Dunk Contest, he said that he was, following the path of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeBron_James
What's a guy 6'8 250 saying that he's following in the footsteps of two 6'6" guys that are 35 and 45 pounds lighter? Lebron is a big-ass graceful fusion between Jordan and Kobe.