Kobe Bryant and Smush Parker's beef has been well documented, and the Black Mamba made it clear that he was not impressed with the latter at any point of time during his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

And the opinion seemed to extend well past Kobe's retirement. In a 2019 interview with The Corp With A-Rod and Big Cat, the late Lakers icon said he wouldn't trust Parker even if he was triple-teamed.

"Well, it depends on the team. If I got Smush Parker lagging behind me to shoot, you best believe I'm shooting the m***********."

[Starts 12:20 onwards]

Parker played with the Lakers from 2005-07 and averaged 11.5 points, 3.7 assists, and 3.3 rebounds in his first season with LA. He averaged 11.1 points the following season, and remained as a starter — but it wasn't enough for Kobe, who explained his beef with the PG in 2012.

The Lakers legend told Mark Medina of the LA Times that Parker wasn't NBA material. “[Parker] shouldn’t have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard,” he said. “We let him walk on.” 

Toward the end of his time with the Lakers, Parker did not get along with the players or the coaches. After the 2006-07 season, he was no longer a member of the Lakers team.

Smush Parker Revealed How Kobe Bryant Embarrassed Him

Smush Parker relived the time Kobe Bryant embarrassed him soon after he joined the Lakers. Speaking to ESPN in a candid interview, Parker narrated that story.

"One day in practice I tried to talk to Kobe outside of basketball about football. He looked at me dead serious and said, 'You can't talk to me. You need more accolades under your belt before you come to talk to me.'"

There was no doubt that Kobe demanded the best out of his teammates every single day, and that cost him some friendships over the course of his illustrious career, but he did get the results he wanted. Had he been there today, there surely would be amends made between him and Parker.

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