Kobe Bryant is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all-time. The Los Angeles Lakers legend set about his entire career trying to be the absolute best he could be, and armed with his relentless drive and famed 'Mamba Mentality', there's no questioning he more than delivered on a Hall of Fame career.
From winning three NBA championships alongside Shaquille O'Neal, to trying to prove to the basketball world that he could lift the trophy even without the help of one of the greatest centers the game has ever seen, Bryant enjoyed the challenge and often rose to the occasion in the clutch.
Kobe Bryant's Career Stats
Category
Points per game
Assists per game
Rebounds per game
Steals per game
Blocks per game
Career awards
NBA titles
Ranking the best players in the NBA right now featuring the Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic and Los Angeles Lakers legend LeBron James Related
15 Best NBA Players Right Now (2025)
LeBron James might be in his 40s, but he is still one of the greatest basketball players in the world.
And while he did have his fair share of help - O'Neal and Pau Gasol are perhaps the two most prominent - he didn't exactly have the luxury of a 'super-team' filled with All-Stars. Though Bryant has always been effusive in his praise of some of his key teammates, it appears that one former Lakers star did not get into the legendary shooting guard's good books.
Kobe Bryant Didn't Think Twice About Who his Worst Teammate was
The Lakers icon didn't hold back on his assessment of his former co-star
Bryant was quick to assert that Smush Parker was his worst ever teammate, and that he recalled having a conversation with then-Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash over the difference in quality between the players they were playing with.
I tell Steve, you won MVP but I was playing with Smush Parker. He’s playing with [Leandro] Barbosa. I’m playing with Smush and Kwame [Brown]. My goodness. Smush Parker was the worst. He shouldn’t have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. We let him walk on.
After spending a couple of years with the Detroit Pistons and the Suns, Parker would sign with the Lakers in the summer of 2005, becoming the surprise starting point guard under legendary head coach Phil Jackson. He beat out competition from Aaron McKie and Sasha Vujacic to get the nod for the season opener against the Denver Nuggets, and would repay his coach's faith by scoring at least 20 points in four out of his first five games for the Lakers.
NBA_Top 10 LAK Related
10 Greatest Lakers of All-Time (Ranked)
The Los Angeles Lakers have had many great players throughout their rich history, but only one can be their greatest of all time.
In fact, from 2005 to 2007, Parker would start 162 straight games for the iconic franchise before signing for the Miami Heat - that move would eventually kick-start the decline of his NBA career.
Smush Parker Responded to Kobe Bryant's Damning Verdict
The former Lakers point guard took aim at the Hall of Famer's character
Los Angeles Lakers star Smush Parker trying to score the basketball in the NBA
Given Bryant's scathing indictment of him, it was only natural for Parker to deliver a response of his own, and speaking much later, the former Lakers point guard opened up on how things were behind-the-scenes.
The man never spoke to me. I wasn't the 12th man on the bench. I wasn't the call-up from the G League who was just filling a roster spot. I started with this man. I was his co-worker. Like we shared a cubicle side-by-side. How do you do that for two seasons and never hold a conversation?
He looked at me, honestly, looked at me and said, 'You can't talk to me, you need more accolades under your belt before you come talk to me. He was dead serious. ... So that set the tone. Never spoke to him again, or tried to, for two years—as the starting point guard.
Parker also added that as well as disliking Bryant as a person, he raised some eyebrows about the NBA Hall of Famer's assertion that he should never have been in the league in the first place, citing the fact that he was among the Lakers' top performers when he was on the team.
What I don’t like about him is the man that he is. His personality. How he treats people. I don’t like that side of Kobe Bryant. He says I’m the worst point guard, that I should have never made it into the NBA. If I don’t deserve to play in the NBA, why am I third on all the stat sheets on the Lakers team those years? I’m top three in all the categories.
|Smush Parker's Career Stats|
|Category|Stat|
|Points per game|9.0|
|Assists per game|2.9|
|Rebounds per game|2.4|
|Steals per game|1.2|
|Blocks per game|0.2|
|Career awards|N/A|
|NBA titles|0|
|---|
Given Bryant's obsession with winning and demanding others to show maximum effort and application, it's perhaps not that much of a surprise that the Lakers star didn't exactly warm to Parker. Questions about his attitude and his desire to train raised some concerns in the dressing room, while his time in Miami, which saw him get into an altercation with a parking attendant, pointed at someone who didn't quite have the necessary mentality to succeed in the NBA.
Ranking the worst NBA players of all-time featuring Anthony Bennett, Darko Milicic and Greg Oden Related
10 Worst NBA Players of All-Time (Ranked)
These stars may have made it to the NBA, but they definitely didn't leave the right impression.
In a Lakers period where Bryant was so desperate to succeed after O'Neal's departure from the franchise, having someone start at the crucial point guard position who he didn't fancy or get along with, was always going to be a recipe for disaster. Thankfully for Bryant and the Lakers, Parker's own exit in 2007 led the way to two NBA titles back-to-back in 2009 and 2010, with the former winning Finals MVP on both occasions.