Kobe Bryant was a great basketball player, but he had trouble getting along with his teammates throughout his career. Be it his disagreements with Shaquille O’Neal after the Lakers’ three-peat or his well-publicized feud with Smush Parker, the Black Mamba was often involved in tussles with his team members. However, Metta Sandiford-Artest (formerly Metta World Peace and Ron Artest) loved sharing a locker room with Kobe.
Advertisement
He recently revealed why on the latest episode of Podcast P with Paul George.
Attempting to salvage his reputation after the infamous Malice at the Palace incident, MWP moved from team to team, hoping to find a place where he could use his unique skillset to contribute to winning basketball.
Eventually he found a home with the Purple and Gold in LA. Artest recalled what it was like sharing a locker room with Kobe. Fierce competitors on the inside, Artest and Bryant had a lot of battles on the court during practice, playing on opposing teams. They talked trash all the time, the viciousness of which sometimes disrupted the flow of the practice sessions.
“We was jawing a lot, disrupting practice. He [Lakers’ Head Coach] just put us on the same team…We never ever played on opposite teams”, Standiford-Artest recalled on the podcast. However, he pointed out that their animosity was born out of competitive fervor and not mutual dislike. In fact, the 44-year-old actually had fun playing with Kobe.
However, coach Phil Jackson wanted the practice to flow smoothly. That’s why the duo always ended up on the same team during practice.
All these things only brought the two players closer, as Standiford-Artest attested. He personally never had an issue playing with Kobe. On the contrary, their bond only grew stronger with time.
Standiford-Artest’s game-winner in the 2010 Finals
A couple of years ago, on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Standiford-Artest talked to Shannon Sharpe about his clutch three-pointer to seal the 2010 Championship for the Lakers. Describing how his and Kobe’s relationship was built on the similarity of their personalities, the former Laker spoke about how he made mistakes earlier in his Lakers stint with clutch passes and turnovers.
He went on to say that Kobe never snapped at him for such mistakes because they were so similar. And that was the reason their bond was so strong.
Despite all this, Standiford-Artest’s immediate reaction after the 2010 Finals was one of pure joy. In the press conference following the Game 7 victory, he spoke passionately about how Kobe wanted to be a winner above all else, and how he ensured that the Lakers had a solid chance of lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
To conclude, Standiford-Artest giddily exclaimed, “Kobe passed me the ball! He never passes me the ball!” It may well have been one of the most important assists of Kobe Bryant’s 20-year career, because the resulting three-pointer from Standiford-Artest guaranteed the Mamba his 5th ring.
