Kobe Bryant was known as one of the most competitive players in NBA history. Apparently, that even carries over to his endorsements. Bryant built strong relationships with several members of the media throughout his Hall of Fame career.
One of them was longtime NBA writer Marc Spears.
"I don't know why he liked me but he did," Spears said during an appearance on The OGs podcast with Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller. "I would email him and tell him when I was coming."
Spears set up a 1-on-1 interview with Bryant one year in Los Angeles. Everything was fine until Spears showed up for practice.
"So one time, I'm in this beautiful adidas sweatsuit," Spears said. "I'm a hard guy to fit. It's three XL, fit right. I had the shoes to match. All black, the black T-shirt underneath. You couldn't tell me nothing that day. And Bean said he'd talk to me after practice."
Bryant began his career endorsing adidas before switching to Nike.
"He's looking at me in disgust," Spears said. "He's like, `Why you disrespecting me like that? Why you wearing that (bleep)? He said, `I ain't doing an interview."'
Spears said Bryant agreed to only do the interview if he filmed himself throwing away the outfit when he got home.
And Spears obliged. He had a friend film him throwing the outfit down the trash chute.
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