Getty Lakers Legend Kobe Bryant
Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Smush Parker recently shared a wild story on the origins of his beef with the late Kobe Bryant.
Parker recounted on the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast about his first attempt to strike up a conversation with Bryant about a football game from the previous night.
“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,'” the 42-year-old Parker told Torre. “He was dead serious. … So that set the tone. I never spoke to him again, or tried to, for two years as the starting point guard.”
Parker and Bryant were teammates from 2005 to 2007.
Bryant trashed Parker in a Los Angeles Times story in 2012.
“Smush Parker was the worst,” Bryant said. “He shouldn’t have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. We let him walk on.”
Parker believes Bryant’s remarks were in retaliation to his 2007 interview when he said playing with the five-time NBA champion was an “overrated experience.”
Bryant built a reputation for being demanding and ultra-competitive during his career like his on-court idol Michael Jordan which alienated him from most of his Lakers teammates.
Parker went on record in a 2012 interview with Hard 2 Guard radio that he stopped passing the ball to Bryant toward the end of his two-year tenure with the Lakers.
Smush Parker: Kobe Bryant ‘Never Spoke to Me’
“The man never spoke to me,” Parker told Torre on the December 19 episode of his podcast. “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?”
The former teammates never reconciled. Bryant died in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020.
“The problems in L.A. end and start with Kobe Bryant,” Smush said on “Pablo Torre Finds Out.” “And I felt that way because as the leader, as the captain, as the star of the team, if you don’t communicate with your teammates, how is a team supposed to be successful?”
Parker signed with the Miami Heat with the help of Shaquille O’Neal, Bryant’s former co-star in Los Angeles, after his Lakers stint. By the end of 2008, Parker was out of the NBA and became a journeyman overseas.
Bryant and the Lakers would go on to win back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.
LeBron James Misses Timberwolves Game
LeBron James will sit out Thursday’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves, due to tendinitis in his left ankle.
The announcement came after James flirted with a triple-double in a 124-108 loss to the Chicago Bulls. The 38-year-old Lakers superstar finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in 37 minutes.
He later admitted that the grueling schedule has taken a toll on them as reflected on their 1-4 record since their unbeaten In-Season Tournament title run.
“It’s a combination of everything,” James said via ESPN. “I mean, it’s the emotional fatigue, it’s the physical fatigue, it’s the grind-of-the-season fatigue. And when you’re not winning, obviously, that’s the frustration fatigue. So, a little combination of everything.”
This marks the second time in two weeks that James has missed the second game of a back-to-back schedule.