“Kobe Bryant Kept One-Upping Us!”: Dwyane Wade, Who Called Kobe His Idol, Shared How They Became Friends on the Redeem Team

Kobe Bryant was one of the fiercest competitors the game of basketball had ever seen. The 6’6″ guard was drafted into the NBA in 1996, and his first goal was to get on Michael Jordan’s radar. If this doesn’t tell you what kind of mindset Kobe had, I’m not sure what else can.

At a time when everyone else was shaking and quivering at the mention of MJ’s name, Kobe was always eager to play against him. Bryant wanted to be the best in the game, and the way to do so was to take down the current best.

While his mindset helped him achieve greatness, it didn’t help him make bonds. However, things changed when Kobe joined the squad for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Bryant ended up becoming friends with most of the guys on the squad. Recently Dwyane Wade spoke about what happened.

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Dwyane Wade admits becoming friends with Kobe Bryant wasn’t easy

After suffering a brutal loss in the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Cup, Team USA turned to Kobe Bryant. Adding Kobe, who had a reputation of being a lone ranger, to a group of players who were known as terrible team players was a ballsy move. However, Kobe was there to win a Gold Medal, and prove haters wrong at the same time. He was a superstar among a group of stars, and everyone wanted to gain his admiration.

Recently, Dwyane Wade was promoting the Redeem Team, when he ended up talking to Jemele Hill. She asked Wade to name the one relationship that came the furthest during the Redeem Team.

Wade gave no thought and named Kobe. He believes it was the same for the entire team. No one was friends with Kobe before this. However, when they won the Gold, everyone had a bond with the Mamba. More so for The Flash, Kobe was another SG, and he wanted to gain the admiration of the leader at the same position.

However, according to Wade, it wasn’t easy. Whenever the team would do something impressive, Kobe would simply one-up them.

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Dwyane Wade was terrified when Kobe didn’t even take him seriously

While he was on the Dan Patrick show, Dwyane Wade recalled one of the scariest experiences for him in his NBA career. Recalling how he was a rookie and playing against Kobe Bryant,

“When I first got in the NBA, one of my idols Kobe Bryant. My tenth game in the NBA, I get a chance to play the Lakers and I eventually get switched off on Kobe. And I am guarding him, and he is just like whistling. He’s just making little noises, and I am like, ‘You don’t even take me seriously. Now I am scared’.” 

Playing mind games was a Kobe specialty. He would have loved to see the rookie Wade squirm.

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