Kobe Bryant would never preach about Mamba Mentality but always showed to the world what the saying meant. Getting early to practice than the entire squad, turning up on off days, plus training extra in gym sessions. The Lakers legend wouldn’t leave any stone unturned to achieve greatness. And if some may think the switch happened after he joined the league, then the answer is no. Recently, the founder of a grassroots basketball company shared a glimpse of a 16-year-old Kobe.

“I picked them up of the Marriott off of Rosecrans and Kobe says pick me up at 5. Hop is going to get some shots up with them. I show up at 5:30 and he checked me, said, ‘Pump don’t ever be late.'” Dana Pump, one of the Pump brothers, who runs Double Pump, shared with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on All The Smoke podcast. “And here’s a kid that was 16 years old checking a man.”

Before sharing the story, he also shared how he wrongly assessed Kobe Bryant. “I was working for Arn Tellem, and I flew to Philadelphia and Bruiser Flint. His dad said, ‘Hey, let’s go watch them,’ and Arn told me to go watch them. I watched them and I said listen, ‘Let’s go at a half, this boy better stay in school.’” Later, Dana Pump agreed that the assessment was wrong and hailed the 5x NBA Champion as “driven off the charts.” And Barnes understands this mentality very well.

For Matt Barnes, Kobe Bryant was more than a teammate. After all, just due to one call, Barnes dropped his plans to team up with LeBron James to play for his hometown team, the Lakers. But it was after their hooping careers were over that they bonded for their kid’s careers.

Kobe Bryant and his parting gift to Matt Barnes’ kids

“We would see each other a little bit more because he was coaching Gigi and I was coaching the twins.” During the promotion of 5-year anniversary of ‘All the Smoke’, Matt Barnes spoke to Charlamagne Tha God. “We had talked maybe one time after that (the four-year-old interview with All the Smoke) and then he had sent some shoes literally the week, I think he passed on a Sunday, he sent shoes that previous Monday to the twins and their whole team. So they had just got fresh Kobes.”

The venture, which completed 5 years, had Kobe Bryant as one of the early guests. 4 years ago, in episode 11, the video had more than 6 million views, which still is the second most-watched video on their channel, only behind Shannon Sharpe’s interview with 8 million views. Why the Lakers legend video is a must-see is due to the fact that it discusses retirement, the new-look Lakers, his family life, and his career.

That is why the sudden demise of Kobe Bryant was tough for Barnes. “We had spoke and then obviously like I said, he sent some shoes the week of the actual passing so it was tough man.” From inculcating the habit early during his career, Kobe tried doing the same when he was coaching the kids. That’s why the greatness of Kobe Bryant is fondly remembered by many.