Kobe Bryant’s later years in the NBA were known for him testing himself against the best young players in the NBA. Kobe grew from a young sensation in the league to a cagey veteran who was the measuring stick for the league. And from time to time, he would be a little harsh with some of the younger players to see how they would fare in the NBA.
But Kobe Bryant wasn’t always trying to test players. Former NBA player Chandler Parsons recently spoke on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast. On the show, Parsons told a story about his first time playing against Kobe. He was warned by veteran players on the team about how Kobe could be.
Parsons guarded Kobe for most of the game. At one point, Kobe asked Parsons whether he and the Houston Rockets were staying the night in LA. When Parsons confirmed, he promised Parsons he would arrange for them to go out that night to a club. And after the night was over, Parsons received a pleasant surprise when paying the bill, despite Kobe not being there with them.
Kobe is truly the 🐐 for this 😂@ChandlerParsons ep of #AllTheSmoke drops on Thursday 💨 pic.twitter.com/7eECV1RhPF
— All the Smoke (@allthesmokeprod) February 28, 2022
“I got a good Kobe story. My rookie year, we’re playing here at Staples Center. And McHale tells us before ‘look, you’re going to see crazy people, you’re going to see celebrities there. Lock in. Kobe, he’s going to try to bust your a**. He’s going to be offended you’re guarding him’. I love that, I’m flattered to guard him… Denzel is there, this chick is there (Rihanna)… I’m like wow. I’m already distracted. Of course, I’m starting on Kobe. Jordan Hill had gotten traded that year from Houston to LA. 4th quarter comes around and Kobe looks at me and he’s like ‘are you guys staying the night tonight?’. And I’m like, making sure McHale is not looking at me and I’m like ‘yeah what up?’… He goes ‘I’ll set you up, I’ll get your number from J Chill if you wanna go out tonight?’. Stop, I know what you’re doing, come on. McHale is there grilling me like stop talking to this motherf*cker. He ends up going off, he has like 40 in that game, we lose. After the game, we go to Katsuya. We’re with all the OGs, we’re with (Phil) Handy… And they’re all taking me out. I get a text, it goes ‘you’re all set at Supper Club – Mamba’. I’m looking around like who is f*cking with me, no way!… I write him back asking are you coming. He says no but says my guy will hit you up… We have the craziest night ever, Supper Club was the place where the tables were beds… 2 AM rolls around… and she’s bringing me this bill for god knows how much. I open it, and its like $22,000. At this point, I’m sick… This chick hands me a pen and says ‘sign for Mr. Bryant’… Everyone says this dude is tough, he’s going to go at you. This dude is cool as f*ck. He was awesome. It was a crazy, crazy time.”
While Kobe was nice to Parsons, that did not stop him from destroying him on the court. Parsons admitted that Bryant scored a lot of points that night against him, especially in the 4th quarter of the game. So on the court, Kobe made sure that it was business as usual.
Kobe did not need to go all out for Parsons and the Rockets, especially paying for their entire night out at the club. But he did, showing how kind he could be to young players. In his later years, Bryant was known to be a mentor and a big brother for many young players in the league.
