Gilbert Arenas Opens Up on Kobe Bryant’s Incredible NBA Journey, Reveals How Lakers Legend Endured Tough Times to Become a Hero

Not many can claim they’ve done more for former NBA players in the media than Gilbert Arenas. Rather than stick to the conventional sources, like Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal on TNT, Arenas’ brand is built off podcasts and streaming appearances. There, he has the freedom to be fully himself, and this freedom has given us some all-time great moments in terms of entertainment.

While it’s easy to write Arenas off as a troll, he often drops gems in his own way. His interaction with his live viewers gave us another one of these gems when one of his viewers asked him a question about Kobe Bryant.

Arena’s Kobe rant started when someone in the chat asked Arenas, “Do you think the media have a different view of Kobe than the players?”

Arenas, a staunch Kobe loyalist, did not hold back on his praise for the Lakers legend. He said Bryant had a tough road to greatness, starting with coming off the bench. “When you think about all the greats in the NBA … Kobe is the only player that you are considering a great … that started off on the bench for the first two years,” he argued.

Kobe averaged 11.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.9 assists during his first two NBA seasons. He started just six games over that time for the LA Lakers. The early struggle shaped Kobe’s growth and long-term dominance. Arenas described Bryant’s career as a true coming-of-age story.

“We watch what he was. We seen the flashes. We seen the work ethic. We seen the demeanor,” Arenas said. “We’ve seen the consistency. We seen the dominance. We seen him fall.” The five-time champion didn’t stay down for long, though. Gilbert Arenas believes Bryant turned pain into a source of strength.

“We seen when people said he couldn’t do [sh**]. The media trashed him. Fans booed him,” Arenas said. “They threw him away and he came back a [f**ing] hero.”

To Arenas, Bryant’s rise isn’t just inspirational — it is patriotic. The former Wizards star calls Kobe an American hero. “They seen a regular man get thrown apart and come back. I call him the American hero,“ Arenas said. “It’s like that Punisher story … he comes back to be the hero. That’s what Kobe did.”

Gilbert Arenas insisted that players view Kobe differently than the media or fans. They witnessed the grind firsthand. “We’ve seen him mess his shoulder up, mess his arm up. He’s still out there busting a**,“ Arenas said.

More than stats or banners, it was Bryant’s mindset that stood out. Arenas captured the essence of that mentality. “He was the mentality everybody wished they had,“ Arenas said. “He was that regular guy down [here] talking about … ‘We can beat them with hard work.‘ That was him.”

Love him or hate him, Gilbert Arenas will continue to amplify Kobe Bryant’s legacy.