“Would’ve Paid to See That!”: Baron Davis’ Kobe Bryant Story Leaves Jamal Crawford in Awe

A majority of the players who were in the league during the Kobe Bryant era have at least one memorable story about the Los Angeles Lakers legend. Jamal Crawford, a huge fan of Bryant, often takes time to listen to as many of these stories as possible. Baron Davis’ story regarding the Black Mamba recently had the three-time Sixth Man of the Year amused.

Baron Davis made an appearance on the Games with Names podcast. At one point in the episode host Julian Edelman asked the former NBA player to narrate a “Kobe story” and the latter obliged.

While Davis was a member of the UCLA Bruins, Kobe Bryant visited the program’s facility to train during the 1998 NBA lockout. Bryant wasn’t disturbing anyone when he was shooting alone. An injured Davis made his way to the then-young phenom and began rebounding for him. What had started as Baron Davis simply rebounding for Kobe, ended up in a full-fledged 1-on-1 duel between the two.

“It’s the lockout year. 8:30 Kobe walks in. Everybody on the team is going ‘oh sh*t’. He saw the practice, walked through very respectful, went on the side, and was just shooting. I was like ‘damn dude, Kobe over there’. So, I just start making my way over to the side.

So he’s shooting, I’m rebounding for him and I pass him the ball and I just do the fake close out. By the fourth time throwing the ball we are in a full 1-on-1 game. When I look up, the whole UCLA team stopped and they watching me and Kobe play 1-on-1. He beat me,” Davis revealed.

 

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Like many other basketball enthusiasts, Jamal Crawford found the story entertaining. Hence, JC claimed that he would’ve paid money to watch the Davis-Bryant 1-on-1 battle.

Crawford commented, “I would’ve paid to see that!”

Baron Davis talking about Kobe had Jamal Crawford excited pic.twitter.com/L7zZxlpBv5

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Baron Davis is one of the few players who got to play against a young Kobe and had a first-hand experience of witnessing his journey to becoming an NBA Hall-Of-Famer. Hence, he has always held Kobe Bryant in high regard.

Baron Davis speaks about the impact Kobe Bryant had on him

Baron Davis grew up watching Michael Jordan. But, being in the NBA during Kobe Bryant’s prime resulted in B-Diddy comparing the former to God.

Baron Davis spent his entire career–right from high school to the league–playing against Kobe Bryant. Apart from regarding the eventual five-time champion as a big brother, the Golden State Warriors legend also told Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes that Bryant was like “Jesus” to him.

Davis said, “I always wanted to pay homage to him, because he was almost like a big bro and almost like a God. Then at the same time, I still knew all the sh*t he was going through. So every time I saw him I…made sure he knew that…”if it’s God, then you are Jesus to us!”, you feel what I’m saying?”

Despite losing 22 out of the 29 games (per Land of Basketball) that they played against each other, Baron Davis has the utmost respect for Kobe Bryant. Hence, the huge praise that the two-time Finals MVP receives from his peers is merely a testament to his greatness.