Kobe Bryant was one of the best players to ever play in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar kept the fans entertained for 20 seasons with his elite basketball skills, obviously by leading the team to multiple NBA Championships.
Evidently, Bryant is considered one of the GOATs of the Lakers. But if there was one thing that Kobe Bryant had a bad reputation about, it was not treating his teammates well. The Mamba always wanted his teammates to be serious about their craft and never slack off.
As a result, there were times when players didn’t even want to play with Kobe due to his intimidating nature. And former NBA player Kwame Brown was initially among them.
Kwame Brown’s Honest Take On Playing With Kobe Bryant
Kwame Brown was lucky enough to share the court with both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant during his NBA career. Although Brown thinks Bryant lagged behind MJ in the locker room, he said the two had the exact same personality on the court.
Obviously, playing with Kobe for around two and a half years helped him in knowing the Mamba better. In a recent appearance on ‘The Pivot’ podcast, Brown explained how Kobe Bryant changed his view of basketball.
(Starts at 47:43)
“I have never met a guy like Kobe. Kobe’s mind was so different and he came out of high school. There’s a lot of Kobes out there. Trust me. … When I got there, there was a lot of things. Mentally I was frustrated. I actually didn’t wanna go to California because to me, he was just like MJ. He was a guy who shot volume shots. I was trying to get to Jason Kidd or a pass-first point guard. I just saw Kenyon Martin running and catching those lobs without thinking that he could use his athleticism and I’m like wow I could do that sleeping.
So I was really pushing my agent to get to Jason Kidd, but I ended up with Kobe. Mentally I was like I don’t wanna be here. But I remember being injured too and just having conversations with Kobe. Seeing how he played through injuries and how he like wheeled me to play. I needed ankle surgery and I needed shoulder surgery. To Kobe you could tell it was more than just a game. It was just like his pride, his everything was on the line. Anything he was gonna do, he was gonna do it to his bes ability. He was gonna study it. … It just gave me a new look because MJ wasn’t doing that at 39.”
As Brown explained, Kobe’s desire to be better than everybody else always kept him ahead of his competition. Even during the prime of his career, Bryant always studied his opponents to get an edge over them. And seeing Kobe do that definitely had a huge impact on Kwame Brown.
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