The late great Kobe Bryant wasn’t known as a party person. Despite all his fame and riches, Kobe rarely stepped out to go somewhere if it wasn’t with his family, spending most of his time grinding in the gym. That’s why when the Mamba accepted Caron Butler‘s invitation to a house party, everyone on the team and even Butler’s mother was pleasantly surprised. During a conversation with Andrew Bernstein in his Legends of Sport podcast, Butler talked about how Kobe visited his house with the team.
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Butler became a part of the LA franchise in 2004. He said that when the team went to Milwaukee, he wanted to take everyone out for a meal at his place. Once everyone was on the bus, the 44-year-old asked for a headcount so he could tell his mother how many people were expected to be there. He said, “So, I was going down the list. I was like, coaches, y’all straight?” Once he was done with pretty much everyone on the team, Butler went on to ask Kobe if he was also coming with the rest of the team.
He recounted, “And then I got in the back, I was like, Kobe, you coming? He was like, ‘Fo Sho’, like, ‘I’m coming.’ Everybody was just like, ‘Whoa, Kobe’s coming?’ I was like, yeah, that’s my dude.”
Butler then recalled telling his mom over the phone that almost everyone in the team, including the great man, was expected to be there. He said, “I think it’s pretty much the whole team, and Kobe. She was like, ‘What?'” Butler said that once they reached there, Kobe won everyone over with his jokes and all the people were surprised by just how normal he was. The Mamba topped it off by saying, “I pump my own gas too”, and gave everyone a good laugh.
Caron Butler’s first experience with Kobe Bryant
Kobe’s work ethic was second to none and that’s why he managed to achieve everything there was to achieve. With almost a maniacal approach towards his craft, Kobe wanted everyone who surrounded him to have that “it” factor in them. During an appearance on Thanalysis, Butler recalled meeting the five-time NBA champion for the first time after he signed with the Lakers. He said that Kobe immediately put him to work and showed him the level of dedication it takes to be as great as him.
Butler said, “He was like, ‘Hey, you ready to fuc*** blackout?'” Confused by what exactly Kobe meant by a blackout, he soon found out that it was Kobe’s way of saying, ‘Let’s workout till we can’t anymore.’ After a blackout workout session at six in the morning, Butler thought that they were done for the day.
However, Kobe asked him to be there again at four in the evening. Butler said, “It taught me so much about discipline, about the game, about having counters, about having first, secondary moves, third moves.” That first meeting with Kobe changed Butler’s perspective towards hard work and gave him an elite athlete’s mindset.
