There are many stories that help us discover or remember how great Kobe Bryant was. The late Los Angeles Lakers legend never backed down to a challenge, which is why he became an all-time great during his 20-year tenure in the association.
Kobe was really great during his time with the Lakers, earning a lot of love and respect from fans around the world. Moreover, he also earned a reputation among his peers. Whenever somebody challenged him to do something, Bryant never stopped until he accomplished that.
If somebody teased him, he was ready to fire back and prove that nobody messed with him. That’s exactly what happened when former teammate Chris Duhon used LeBron James to troll Kobe, but the Black Mamba wasn’t having any of that. Duhon only played one season in Los Angeles (2012/13), but that was enough for him to know the Mamba Mentality.
Talking on KanterKast Podcast, Duhon recalled his favorite Kobe story where he called him out for not passing the ball and not getting triple-doubles like LeBron James. Truth to his style, Kobe would prove Duhon wrong after that.
“It was a back-to-back game, and when you get to the plane where you get the stat sheet of the game that day, I was sitting next to him at that time, and I was like ‘LeBron had a triple-double and sh*t, you can never get one of those because your ass doesn’t pass.”
“Kobe started laughing and said, ‘Alright, I’ll bet you 5,000 dollars I’ll get a triple-double the next game. And I’m like, ‘Alright, bet it.’ And sure enough, I think he was one rebound and assists shy by halftime. Every time he was doing that, he was just looking at me and was just winking.”
No matter who you were, Kobe was always ready to get back at you if you did him wrong. Duhon challenged the legend, and the only thing he gained was watching Kobe doing impressive things in only one half of a game. That’s still great, but he lost $5K while pissing off one of the most hard-nosed players of all time.
