“Choke On My Fifth Ring”: Jamie Foxx Reveals How He Morivated Kobe Bryant To Win His Fifth Championships

Kobe Bryant lived in L.A. since he was drafted to the team in 1996. Considering his status as a high-profile basketball player, Bryant has a fair amount of friends in Hollywood. One of these friends is Jamie Foxx who narrated a story to Jimmy Fallon about his conversations with Kobe before he won the title in 2010.

Foxx first revealed the time Kobe Bryant made fun of him for being a Dallas Mavericks fan. “I am from Texas so I am a Mavericks fan. And Kobe heard ‘Mavericks? I thought you was a winner'”

Foxx went on to talk about a comment he made to Kobe which got him angry and caused him to not attend Foxx’s show. “We were talking about players and he was like ‘oh they can’t handle me’. Then I said, LeBron James… He didn’t stay for my show. He got pissed.”

However, that comment sent Kobe straight to the gym and made him put in the work before he won his fifth ring. “So we’re texting and going back and forth. I said you ain’t gonna be ready for the season, what’s up with Ron Arrest all these different things. He texts me back saying ‘do you have some water? You’re going to need it because you’re going to choke on my fifth ring’.”

Kobe Bryant and his final championship

The ring Kobe won that year would be the last title he ever lifted in his career. The 2009-10 championship saw Kobe lead a well-rounded Lakers team to the number one seed in the Western Conference. Bryant was supplemented by Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, and the man formerly known as Ron Artest, among others.

Kobe averaged 27 points through the regular season 29.2 in the playoffs. They first beat a young Oklahoma City Thunder team with rookie James Harden and sophomore Russell Westbrook with Kevin Durant 4-2. The swept the Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams led Utah Jazz in the second round before sealing the Western Conference title by beating the Steve Nash Phoenix Suns. They won the title over the big three Boston Celtics to avenge their 2008 Finals loss. Kobe was awarded Finals MVP for the second time in his career with this win.

Kobe would go on to play 6 more seasons on a weak LA team, while also being riddled with injury.