Kobe Bryant and Jeremy Lin were teammates on the Lakers in the 2014-15 NBA season, and Lin recalls a funny story for the ‘Black Mamba’ during that season.
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Kobe was one of the biggest competitors during his time in the NBA, and he never backed down from anyone, not even his own teammates.
His work ethic was one of the craziest in the league, and it was one of the biggest reasons he and Shaq started beefing as Kobe didn’t think that Shaq was keeping up with his practice and fitness the way he wanted. Once, Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy asked Kobe why he was such a stickler and Kobe’s response was simply that he didn’t respect his teammates’ work ethic.
Kobe Bryant Wasn’t Afraid To Tell Jeremy Lin And The Rest Of The Lakers They Were Going To Get Traded
Kobe Bryant had a similar experience in the 2014-15 NBA season. That year was not great for LA as they finished the year 21-61, almost at the bottom of the Western Conference at 14th place.
The Lakers definitely needed to make some moves and Kobe was clearly aware of the fact. He was injured for a little bit of the season, but he would still drop in to Lakers’ practices to see what was going on.
Even though Kobe was at the later stages of his career, he still had the same confidence that he had in the prime years of his career. According to Lin, before the trade deadline, Kobe once walked in and said:
“He was just stone-faced, and he was like ‘I just came by to say bye to some of you bums who are going to get traded tomorrow.’ And then he sits down at the table where you control the scoreboard at the practice facility and he said a couple words to the coach, and then he left. And I remember one of my teammates was just like ‘I lost all motivation to practice.’”
Only the ‘Black Mamba’ can make these kind of comments and still hold respect with his team and the rest of the league. This kind of story perfectly exemplifies the kind of player he was.
