We’ve learned many stories about Kobe Bryant over the years. The Los Angeles Lakers legend always tried to do everything he could to be ready for any challenge, sometimes taking things a little too far.
His ‘blackout’ workouts became a famous thing around the league, with Kobe pushing himself to the limit and beyond to be the best player he could be. Caron Butler learned how intense those workouts were and how committed Kobe was to them, too.
The Black Mamba constantly tried to get others to put the work in the gym, like Shaquille O’Neal, but it was common to see players doing other things instead of trying to keep up with Kobe. Believe it or not, he knew how to have fun too, and sometimes he took advantage of that to make teammates work out with him.
Kobe Bryant Had Unique Condition For Teammates Who Invited Him To Party
During an old interview with Lewis Howes, Kobe shared how he would agree to go out with players when they went to a different city, but making it clear he would be at their doors at 5 am to take them to the gym and get the right preparation for games.
“I would tell guys, we got back-to-backs. I don’t care if we’re in Miami, I don’t care if we’re in a great city like Chicago. You can’t go out, you got to rest, right? You play on Monday and then you play on Tuesday. Guys don’t listen, right? So, a few times I said, ‘alright, we’ll all go out, we’ll go out together. I’ll drink with you. But the next morning, I’m banging on your door at 5 in the morning. Let’s go! They’d be like, ‘where are we going?’ I said, ‘I hung out with you, now you come hang out with me. This is what we do, alright? Let’s go!’ We’re at the gym, we’re working out, right? We hit the bus, we go to practice, we play that night, and they’re dead. Everybody was like, ‘lesson learned.’ If you’re gonna do that, do that, but don’t let that compromise what we’re here to do.”
Kobe was always ready to hold people accountable, especially when it came to practice. It’s well known that he never had respect for those who didn’t put in the work to get better and didn’t treat practice with due respect. Allen Iverson once told the story of when Kobe told him he was going to the gym as AI got ready to hit the club, so you know how different this man was.
Tyronn Lue also compared Bryant’s work ethic with Michael Jordan’s, as they both left everything at practice trying to reach the next level. If you didn’t show any desire to improve your level and made it to practice in not the best conditions, Kobe would destroy you, and that’s how he became one of the greatest and most respected players of all time.
