“Haters are a good problem to have,” Kobe Bryant once said. While fans may love him for his ‘Mamba Mentality’, the same aspect also drew negative attention. He expected his teammates to embody similar ideals, and this didn’t sit well with many. Back in 2014, Bryant called his teammates ‘Soft like Charmin,’ and similar instances led to dislike towards the 5X champion. Now another rival has made some scathing remarks against the Lakers legend.

DJ Wells on his Club 520 podcast said one of the finals that was super crazy to him was the last one between the Lakers and Boston. Both co-host Bishop and former champion Jeff Teague agreed. The Los Angeles Lakers were victorious in game 7 of the 2010 NBA finals. Bryant scored the series-high 38 points in game 5 and averaged 28.6 in the finals. Yet after thinking about the finals, it seems Teague remembered the trait he disliked about the 2x NBA Finals MVP.

“I ain’t gonna lie, no shade or nothing like, no disrespect, but I never like watching Kobe Bryant play. He wasn’t my type of [player]. I knew he was cold. I know he was a killer, but I ain’t never like watching him play,” Teague said, via Club 520 Podcast. “Like all his s**t seemed like he was trying too hard. He like, you know, it didn’t come… easy he scored easy but like all his moves was like [rough].

The 2021 NBA Champion even compared Bryant to LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Carmelo Anthony. “Watch KD and Melo, it just look graceful like this.”

On a similar note, he spoke about how LeBron James was so much stronger and bigger than him. Once again, he appreciated the footwork and the precise movements but was quick to point out the unnecessary grunting sound from Bryant, which made him uncomfortable.

Now Kobe Bryant‘s play, which Teague viewed as intense, has been perceived by others as a passion and complexity.

But what did James think about Bryant? “He had zero flaws offensively. Zero,” LeBron James previously opined. “Just being at a point where… you just felt you were immortal offensively because of your skill-set and work ethic… Something I admired.” Kobe Bryant carried the intensity everywhere, even in practice, if it ensured a win.

“One thing I love about Kobe is Kobe is all about winning,” Mark Madsen had iterated. Backing it further, Shaq once revealed Bryant would be ‘cutting and grunting’ in practice. However, this sheer drive to be the best on court, an expectation not just for him, but for his teammates as well, has landed quite a few on the wrong side.

Imagine Kobe Bryant unintentionally making people uncomfortable, but what if he purposely had disdain against someone?

Kobe Bryant’s worst enemy was his teammate?

In 2012, Bryant spoke to the Los Angeles Times about one of his teammates. “He shouldn’t have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. We let him walk on,” Bryant said. The 18x NBA All-Star made these comments about his former teammate, who was part of his team for two years.

Smush Parker played for the Lakers from 2005 to 2007. In those two years, he averaged 11.3 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.9 rebounds in 164 games. When Parker made an appearance on the ‘Hard 2 Guard’ Radio 11 years ago, he revealed how much he hated Kobe Bryant’s personality. “I didn’t bow down to Kobe Bryant. I didn’t kiss his a**, I wasn’t kissing his feet. Quite frankly, towards the end of the second season, I stopped passing him the ball. I stopped giving him the ball. I started looking him off.”

Parker made it clear that he was not attacking Kobe Bryant’s legacy. He even praised Bryant’s work ethic and his achievements throughout his career. However, he did not like the way he was treated and, according to him, he gave back to prove his point. But let us also take into account some more context.

Parker and Bryant played together when the latter was established as a scoring-matching who had tasted early success alongside Shaquille O’Neal. He was still adjusting to playing during the post-O’Neal times in LA and hence he didn’t want to waste his prime on a team that had players like Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm, Brian Cook, and Parker.

However, Parker had some issues of his own that led to Bryant’s comments. Back then, Parker clashed with Phil Jackson, behaved in ways that some may label as a lack of professionalism, and even overslept on team flights. All of this led both players to harbor a dislike for each other.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, had to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.