Phoenix, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) reacts against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The Suns defeated the Lakers 119-107. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The late Kobe Bryant was one of the greatest players of all time, and while it was an honor to be his teammate, you also needed to have thick skin to play with him. Bryant wouldn’t mince words if he didn’t like what he was seeing, and he famously went a step further once.
Bryant is said to have taken away the Nike “Kobe” shoes his Los Angeles Lakers teammates were wearing, and former Laker Nick Young spoke about that night on the Club Shay Shay podcast.
“Yeah, it was a tough night,” Young said. “It was. We was in Portland. We was down by like 20 or 15 at the half. He came in and said, ‘Y’all don’t deserve to wear these shoes.’ And was going down the locker room, bro, ‘Take them shoes off. Take them shoes off.’ Got them all in the string and just threw them in the trash.”
Host Shannon Sharpe asked Young whether the players actually took their shoes off, and he revealed he didn’t take off his.
“I didn’t ’cause I was like, ‘Come on, man. I’m too old… You can’t treat me like I’m one of these rooks,'” Young said. “But yeah, a lot of people took them shoes off.”
The Washington Wizards had selected Young with the No. 16 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. He joined the Lakers in 2013 and had been in the league long enough to the point where he wasn’t taking his shoes off even for a legend like Bryant.
Sharpe wondered if the Lakers players got their shoes back later, and Young isn’t sure they did.
“I didn’t see the shoes no more,” Young said. “… Not that night. But nah, people still wore Kobe’s after. But that night? Nah, them shoes was gone.”
Now Young’s recollection of the events is different from what we’d heard previously. Former NBA player Lou Williams shared that the Lakers players had their Kobe shoes taken away the next day.
“When I played with him,” Williams said. “He got upset and said, ‘Now I touch the ball every time down the court. Y’all gon’ learn how it’s like to play with Kobe f***ing Bean Bryant…’ He cleaned our s*** out. We got blown out in Portland; he went down the line, one at a time, and told everybody what the f*** was wrong with them. He went down the line; he skipped me, Metta World-Peace, and Brandon Bass. Everyone else got it.”
“We came in the next day for practice,” Williams added. “I don’t know if Carlos [Maples] was the equipment manager for y’all. He comes in, cool as ever, and starts racking Kobe’s out of motherf****ers lockers. Me and Nick Young sitting like, ‘What you doing?’ He said, ‘Kobe said he ain’t want y’all to wear his shoes, you f***ing are soft.'”
Williams only played with Bryant during the 2015-16 season, so this was one of two games. The Lakers first lost 108-96 to the Portland Trail Blazers on the road on Nov. 28, 2015. The Trail Blazers then swept that season series with a 121-103 win in Portland on Jan. 23, 2016.
The Lakers trailed by 14 points at halftime in the first of the two games, so that could be when Bryant exploded. Young, who played with Kobe from 2013 to 2016, explained why the icon was so upset.
“It wasn’t more about missing shots,” Young said. “It’s about the energy. Some nights we look like we just give up… But at the same time, they was trying to get the No. 1 pick too. It was a little up and down, and Kobe knew that, but he still wanted people to play hard from the 15th man to the right to Pau Gasol.”
The Lakers indeed weren’t trying to win. They finished with a woeful 17-65 record in 2015-16, and Bryant’s retirement tour was pretty much the only reason to be excited about them. He bowed out in some style, too, scoring 60 points in his final game against the Utah Jazz.
Young actually asked Bryant to sign his Adidas shoes that night. The latter threw them in the trash can instead and made it clear he would only sign Nikes.
Now, while Bryant was tough on his Lakers teammates, there was another side to him. Young revealed he once threw a stripper party for them and then left. Bryant sure was quite a character.