“He Didn’t Just F**king Say That to Me”: Kobe Bryant, Despite Being Kyrie Irving’s Hero, Brutally Told Him The Warriors Would Win The 2016 Title

Kobe Bryant was one of the most influential athletes in the world. Preaching his Mamba Mentality philosophy, Bryant had several kids around the globe look up to him. Kyrie Irving was merely among the millions who grew up idolizing the Los Angeles Lakers legend. Irving was even fortunate enough to share a mentor-mentee relationship with the iconic shooting guard. However, that didn’t stop Kobe from talking trash to Kyrie. Last year on his Twitch stream, Kai revealed how the 6ft 6” sensation claimed that the Golden State Warriors would end up winning the 2016 title.

Kyrie Irving gathered the courage and decided to indulge in a friendly banter with Kobe Bryant during the 2012 Team USA camp. Bugging the five-time Champ for a one-on-one matchup, the rookie accepted Bryant’s $50,000 wager. Unfortunately, we never got to witness this iconic contest take place.

Kobe Bryant told Kyrie Irving that the Warriors would win the 2016 Championship

A night before Kobe Bryant’s final clash against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyrie Irving met up with his idol for a short while. At one point in their conversation, Bryant was brutal enough to predict that the Stephen Curry-led GSW would clinch the 2016 Championship. Of course, this claim went on to bother Kai. The then-Cavs star was frustrated and clapped back at Kobe.

“I ended up seeing him in LA the night before the last game we played against him in LA. We went out for a little while and he gave me some extra motivation in the most Kobe way. He was like ‘man, I think Golden State’s definitely going to win the Championship this year’. Bro can you imagine Kobe saying this? This is like my hero, bro… I’m looking at this dude like ‘bro, what?!’ He did not just f**king say that to me. There’s no way he just said that to me.

I looked at him, straight in his eye, and I said ‘no they’re not. What are you talking about?’ He said ‘nah man, they got a really good team this year, I just feel like you guys match up well against them but I just feel like they have a good chance. That’s it’… He was like ‘man, Steph is killing this year’. I’m like ‘man, I’m not trying to hear about Steph, right now bro. I respect the sh*t out of Steph but I’m going smack at him’,” Kyrie recollected.

Seems like Kobe got Kyrie all riled up. In their very next contest, Irving recorded 26 points and 9 assists as he outperformed Kobe, who recorded 26 points and 5 rebounds. Thanks to LeBron James’ 24-point, 5-rebound, and 7-assist performance, the Ohio side clinched a 120-108 victory.

The Cleveland Cavaliers went on to win the 2016 Championship

The Golden State Warriors dominated the entire 2015-2016 regular season, finishing with a 73-9 record. They even went on to grab a 3-1 lead in the Finals. However, much to Kobe’s surprise, the Cavaliers displayed incredible resilience and historically came back to win the title.

After winning the title, the first thing Kyrie did was FaceTime Kobe. Apparently, the advice that Bryant dished out did end up working in the former Duke Blue Devil’s favor.

Maybe this was Kobe’s plan all along. Maybe this was the Black Mamba’s way of igniting a spark in Kyrie.