Steve Lipofsky (CC) / Keith Allison (CC)
A simple fan of Michael Jordan during his youth, Kobe Bryant quickly entertained the hope of having a better career than him in the NBA. One of his former teammates at the Lakers also remembers the speech he could give on His Airness.
No NBA fan can say they have never read or heard an anecdote involving the two men. Many have also already viewed the compilations showing them performing the same moves and game actions in detail. The connection between Michael Jordan et Kobe Bryant is indeed intended to be ultra-documented, which does not prevent their contemporaries from continuing to evoke it today.
Kobe Bryant’s cheeky outing on Michael Jordan
Well placed to witness the similarities displayed by Jordan and Bryant, their counterparts at the time were also able to discuss it with them. Sometimes, they didn’t even need to raise the subject for it to come up in their discussions. Guest of Knuckleheads PodcastLamar Odom recounts the most daring assertion made by Kobe about his elder in private:
Two rings and seven seasons as teammates, @LamarOdom talks about who Kobe was off the court, their friendship and Mamba Mentality. ????
Tap in to his episode of #Knuckleheads with @QRich and @21Blackking now! https://t.co/AEMuodoZyf pic.twitter.com/zK8qJia5ss
— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) September 13, 2023
Read also
“The only two players as smart as me were LeBron and Kobe”
Kobe as a teammate? It was easy to learn from him. Besides, if you didn’t take inspiration from him when he was on your team, then you were stupid. You were not made for this life. Apart from that, his state of mind was crazy and incredible. I once heard him say on the bus that he was better than Jordan. I told him he was crazy! But it came out of his mouth.
As a reminder, Odom played alongside the Black Mamba from 2004 to 2011. It therefore seems plausible that the latter said these words before winning his 4th and 5th championship titles. Unfortunately, 2011’s 6th Man of the Year doesn’t give any clues as to when this scene took place, leaving us with nothing but guesswork. LO, in any case, still appears as stunned by his former leader:
It was easy to understand where he got all his motivation from. I quickly told myself that he was THE guy. He had this kind of aura around him, you know what I mean? It was the chosen one, his aura shone brightly. This bastard even scored nine game-winners in a single season, bro. Like, you’ve played basketball your whole life too, right? We haven’t even had nine game-winners in our entire lives!
Kobe Bryant was definitely not afraid of words and thus told the Lakers locker room that he was better than Michael Jordan. A statement which is not necessarily surprising on his part, but which serves as a reminder of his unparalleled mentality.
2023-09-16 13:40:00
#heard #Kobe #Jordan #bus #told #crazy
