Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant is obviously one of the greatest and most accomplished NBA players of all-time, but he also had a lot of success on the international level. Kobe was a leader on the 2008 and 2012 USA Olympic teams where he developed close relationships with many players such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Russell Westbrook.
In 2012, Westbrook was just beginning to come into his own as one of the best young point guards in the NBA. Kobe was still the bar that most players were looking to reach, but one thing Westbrook was never gonna do was back down and that mindset shows in a recent clip from an Olympic practice.
In the video, Bryant is defending Westbrook, who knocks down a shot over the Lakers legend and lets him know there was nothing he could do about it. Kobe responds as is to be expected before the next possession occurs, via Legendz NBA:
LEAKED Audio Of Russell Westbrook Trash Talking Kobe Bryant In Team USA Practice👀:
Westbrook: “You can’t do nothing about that one”
Kobe: “Come here and get it”, while also staring him down pic.twitter.com/9QrLAteoWt
— LegendZ (@legendz_nba) September 2, 2023
This is exactly the kind of interaction one would expect to see when Kobe Bryant and Russell Westbrook are sharing the court together. They are two of the most competitive players to ever step foot on a basketball court and have no issues letting their opponents know when they got the best of them.
The Lakers legend seemed to pick up his defensive intensity after Westbrook knocked down that first jumper as Kobe hounded him on the ensuing possession. But Westbrook would still make a great play, finding Kevin Love for a layup.
These types of interactions aren’t always seen, especially from the international teams. The practices and scrimmages are some of the most intense and competitive with some of the greatest players of all-time squaring off and in this instance, a former Laker got the better of a Lakers legend.
Robert Horry suggests ‘two-face’ Kobe Bryant Lakers statue
The Lakers will soon be honoring Bryant with a statue outside of the Crypto.com Arena and his former teammate Robert Horry has an idea of what that statue could look like.
With Kobe known for wearing both the numbers 8 and 24 and arguably having Hall of Fame careers with each of them, Horry suggested a ‘two-face’ style statue with one side being the younger ‘8’ version and the other side being the older ’24’ version of the Lakers legend.
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