From 2002 to 2003, Bruins legend Tracy Murray played alongside Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant at the Staples Center. The Lakers were Murray’s 7th team and as a journeyman, he naturally had to work harder than the superstars to earn his minutes. Except one superstar that is.
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The Black Mamba was known for being not just the best player on his team, but the hardest working too. Of course, in 2002, his mentality wasn’t as famous as it is today. Naively, Murray believed he could outwork Kobe in the gym.
During his recent appearance on Byron Scott’s podcast, the UCLA Athletics Hall of Famer revealed his humbling experience with the late Bryant.
“I come in at 8, he’s dripping wet. ‘Nah, I can’t have Kobe beat me to the gym’,” said Murray. “Come in at 7. Dripping wet. Come in at 6 — now, to say again, we’re practicing at 11 — dripping wet.”
Soon Murray realized there was no way he was beating Bryant at this game. So, he did what any sane man would. He gave up.
“I ain’t coming in any earlier than that,” Murray said, adding that Kobe was pushing himself right at the beginning of the season, when most players are still working off the rust from their summer breaks.
Bryant also had every reason to take it easy at the start of the 2002-03 campaign as he was fresh off a three-peat. But that wasn’t how he was wired.
Murray added to the Mamba’s lore by sharing just how intensely he would work out during the regular season. “He’s doing off-season workouts during the season. He’s throwing a medicine ball to the ceiling bro!”
The small forward realized soon enough why Bryant worked out the way he did. “He’s really preparing for postseason during the season. Like, he really built his body to last… And to ask him [Kobe], ‘Man, what time did you get here’? ‘Bro, I got here at 2:30-3 o’clock’,” the 1995 NBA champion narrated.
For any player to show up to the gym eight hours before practice is unheard of. It’s even more preposterous when that player is a three-time champion and the best active shooting guard of his time. But Bryant never viewed himself that way, and always believed he could improve further.
Hard work was the only path to success for Bryant
The five-time NBA champion displayed the strength of his mentality on several occasions during his illustrious career. Bryant believed that he could surpass anybody by working harder than them. Byron Scott, who briefly coached the Lakers, once questioned Bryant about his rigorous approach in the gym.
This was Bryant’s reply to Scott: “If I work out three times a day, and all these other guys who are so called great players work out just for practice, they just work out that one time a day, over a five year period, they can’t catch me.”
That’s why the Black Mamba would be in the gym at ungodly hours. He believed that the more sessions he squeezed in, the more he could elevate himself above the competition.
“Look how much more training I have done by simply starting at 4 am, right? And so you do that, and as the years go on, the separation that you have with your competitors and peers just grows larger and larger,” Bryant explained.
As simple as it sounds, not many athletes have the mettle and fortitude to follow such rigorous routines. The late Lakers legend built his career and legacy out of hard work. And that’s the reason why he remains an idol to so many today.
