Michael Jordan was one of the inspirations for the late, great Kobe Bryant. The Black Mamba looked up to him and wanted to be a better version of him. So, it’s obvious that those comparisons were going to be put to test once Kobe started gaining a reputation in the league. During an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast, Shawn Kemp unveiled how he decided to use ‘The Kobe Stopper‘ to see if Kobe had it in him like his idol MJ.
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The man behind this term was none other than Ruben Patterson, who started his career with the Lakers in 1998. He was seen as the man who could stop Kobe in his tracks, a task that many people in the league didn’t even think was possible.
Kemp was already a veteran in the league, by the time Kobe made his debut. The 54-year-old had played against Jordan and wanted to know if the young blood was really the next MJ. He said,
“I had got the chance to play against Michael Jordan, bro. And when I got a chance to go against Kobe, I really wanted to test his a**. I wanted to see if he was as strong as Michael was.” To do that, he used to hype up his ‘Kobe Stopper’ before games so that they get to have a full-blown competition on the court every time. He said,
“I used to have Ruben Patterson on my team, and I used to…just go around and gas these guys up to play against Kobe.”
In the end, Kemp’s efforts to stop Kobe didn’t bear any results. He said, “But nah, it was no answer for him.” Interestingly, the Mamba has also spoken on the subject on several occasions. Needless to say, he took it as a disrespect that someone could even think of calling themselves the Kobe Stopper when in reality, there really was never an answer for him.
Kobe Bryant made it his mission to humiliate Ruben Patterson
The world continues to sing praises for the Mamba Mentality. It’s because Kobe has left his imprint on how he approached his game and his life in general. So, for a player of his stature, the existence of a so-called Kobe Stopper was something he just couldn’t tolerate.
During a podcast appearance, he unveiled that initially he offered to help Patterson, but ended up changing his mind. Kobe said that since they played together for a while, he was aware of the hard-working nature of the 48-year-old. He said,
“I loved that about him. But then now, he’s a free agent and now he’s like ‘I’m The Kobe Stopper, I used to lock him up in practice.’ So, I called him up.”
Kobe added that he asked Patterson if he was doing the PR run to get a better offer. And if that was the case, he should let Kobe in on the plan so he could peddle that narrative. Unfortunately, it was too late.
Kobe said, “Now, you done pissed me off…Now you went out there and mouthed off. Now I’ve got to kill you every time I play you and it’s not going to be a good situation.” Kobe always had the last laugh and this situation with Patterson wasn’t any different. On the bright side, it gave the hoop world a truly, one of its kind story.
