Smush Parker was the Lakers starting point guard from 2005 to 2007 and shared the backcourt with Kobe Bryant. He had a poor experience playing with Bryant, being disrespected by the Lakers legend. As a result, he doesn’t think it’s fair to compare Kobe to Michael Jordan because of how both had different relationships and expectations from their teammates.
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“I hate when people compare them. I can see why you’d compare Kobe to Mike and Mike to Kobe, but I wouldn’t compare Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan. There’s differences in their game. They’re both high competitors. But Mike wants his teammates to be better, so he motivated his teammates to be better.”
Parker idolized Michael Jordan and credited him with inspiring him to play basketball.
“I wanted to be like Mike when I grew up. He was the reason I wanted to make the NBA. Getting the chance to play against him was in itself a dream come true. I grew up six, seven. eight years old. That’s what I wanna do, that’s who I wanna be. That’s why I was in the gym every day, practicing to be like Michael Jordan. I wanted to be at that level. Not only being able to meet him but to play against him in an NBA game.”
It’s clear Parker holds Jordan on a higher pedestal, which could be colored by the fact that he played with Kobe and had an infamously bad relationship with him.
Parker played against Jordan four times in his rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had a perfect shooting night in their first contest, going 4/4 and scoring 11 points. He averaged 5.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in limited minutes in those contests.
Smush Parker Called Playing With Kobe Bryant Overrated
A chance to be Kobe Bryant’s teammate is something that many aspiring hoopers would have done anything for. Parker got that unique experience as Kobe’s starting backcourt point guard for 162 straight games. Unfortunately, it’s an experience both parties didn’t enjoy. Parker recently called playing with Kobe overrated.
“I said it was an overrated experience, playing with Kobe Bryant… Because I have inside information, because I dealt with this man for two seasons, and my locker was here, and his locker was here for two seasons. I watched this man put on his shoes every day for work. Like we shared a cubicle side by side. How do you do that for two seasons and never hold a conversation?”
Bryant has always held a deep dislike for Parker for unknown reasons, dissing him repeatedly over his career and even after retirement. The infamous incident between the two comes from when Kobe told Parker not to try and talk to him until he has more accolades under his belt.
Parker averaged 11.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists for the Lakers in his two seasons with the team. He was perfectly serviceable but wasn’t the kind of point guard any contender in the NBA would start.
He would leave LA after 2007, as the team became instant contenders after the acquisition of Pau Gasol. They went to three consecutive NBA Finals, winning two titles in the process.
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