“Kobe Bryant can’t beat me one on one!”: When Julius Randle challenged Lakers legend to duel him on court

Kobe Bryant’s teammates were once asked if they could beat him one on one, and the answers were fascinating.

When we talk about the best scorers in NBA history, Kobe Bryant’s name is one of the first ones to pop right up. During his illustrious career where he won 5 championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe was feared across the league.

While Kobe has been part of some great rosters, we can all agree that the later stages of his career didn’t yield a lot of success. A combination of injuries and bad teammates completely derailed his aspirations to win a 6th.

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The former MVP was a highly respected figure by the end of his career, and it showed in a resurfaced video. At the start of the 2014-15 season, Kobe’s teammates were asked if they could take their leader one on one.

The roster included big names like Steve Nash and Carlos Boozer, but both were past their primes by that period. The young core of the team included talented stars like Jeremy Lin, Jordan Hill, and recent MIP awardee Julius Randle.

The promising Lakers group could muster only 21 wins in the 2014-15 season, finishing last in the Pacific Division.

While the core wasn’t able to achieve considerable success, their answers to the question were interesting. While most admitted defeat outright, some believed that while Kobe would win most of the time, they could sneak some wins in too.

Steve Nash jokingly suggested that because Kobe was bigger and younger than him, he didn’t even have a chance. Sophomore Julius Randle answer was a little more committal, and he confidently claimed that no one could defeat him one on one, Kobe included.

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2010 proved to be the last time the Lakers would come close to sniffing a title. Dirk’s Mavs and the young OKC group would prove to be too much for them. It’s a shame that one of the greatest of the sport had to end his career in that fashion.