Landon Buford
Kobe Bryant is regarded as the greatest Laker of all time.
During his time in a Lakers uniform, he won five championships with the team and spent his entire career in Los Angeles. So the idea of Kobe in another jersey is probably repugnant to several Laker fans. Still, the truth is that before he joined the NBA, Bryant worked on multiple teams, including notable Lakers rivals like the Celtics.
Another team he worked out for before being traded by the Hornets to the Lakers in 1996, was the crosstown rivals the Los Angeles Clippers.
A video of Bryant’s workout with the Clippers recently surfaced on Instagram. Playmaker Hoops posted the video with the caption, “Imagine if he was a Clipper.”
former Clippers and Lakers guard Darren Collison replied, “Yea, I would of be sold 2 mins into the workout.”
That would changed the whole trajectory of his legendary career. Speaking of the Celtics they one of the two teams that Bryant lost to in the NBA Finals. This particular loss took happened in the 2008 Finals. Brian Scalabrine was a member of the Celtics’ team and recently shared his thoughts on Bryant’s legacy.
“Being a Celtic guy, I could never bring myself to hate Kobe Bryant, right? Hating an opponent because he was so meticulous and so good at his preparation. The way that he would talk, I also thought people would ask a question about Lakers-Celtics. Of course, it means a lot when it’s Warriors-Celtics when it’s anybody playing, right? And always said, listen, it’s about your preparation, It’s about your work, and you can’t start working now just because the Lakers are playing the Celtics,” said Scalabrine of The Big 3.
“This thing has been going on for years. I loved that about him because no matter what happens, it always came back to the lab, the work, the preparation, and it came back to the attention to detail, which people can say, wow, look at this shot or look at that shot, or Lakers-Celtics. Still, the man was meticulous, and I admired that about him.”
ESPN and Netflix are scheduled to release Kobe Bryant Documentary next month entitled “The Black Mamba.”
