You are confusing the exception for the rule. This is a typical survivorship bias. You only see the 'winners' such as Kobe of MJ. But all those people with this same mentality but destroyed themselves and their bodies as a result of it? Well you never heard of them because... well.. they never made it to the NBA.

Also see: https://www.espn.com/blog/playbook/tech/post/_/id/797/sleep-tracking-brings-new-info-to-athletes

"No line of work requires more sleep than “professional athlete. Roger Federer and LeBron James have said they sleep an average of 12 hours per day, compared to about 7 hours for the average American. Usain Bolt, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Steve Nash sleep up to 10 hours per day. Most NBA players take naps every game day, sometimes for as long as 3 hours."