Kobe Bryant did not care what the media wrote about him and did not back down to any of his opponents. He was great at playing mind games and was always steps ahead. His arrogant side was only during the time when the spotlight was on him according to his former teammate. “I would say he was a nice person outside the court but anything around basketball, nah. But, he knew it too.”

Many young and upcoming players have embodied the ‘Mamba Mentality’. Recently even Anthony Edwards‘ performance was considered Bryant-like. As Edwards was able to change his poor slump performance like Bryant. 

In a recent interview, Nick Young opened up about his experience playing with the late Kobe Bryant. Young was with the Lakers from 2013 until 2017, essentially playing until Kobe retired. He highlighted some memorable moments on the VladTv YouTube channel hosted by DJ Vlad.

Young spoke about Kobe’s intense competitive nature. He shared an incident where, during a game, Bryant took a rookie’s seat on the bench. All the seats were filled so the Lakers legend pointed at the rookie to sit on the floor. There were no seats remaining so Bryant was definitely going to stand up the whole time or sit on the floor according to Young. Bryant knew and wanted to keep the arrogant personality on display. “So he used to use it like like how you say double down on it. Kobe was a ultimate double down on like the a**holenes,” remarked Young.

Young also shared how Kobe would challenge his teammates by showing up extraordinarily early to workouts, expecting the same level of commitment from them. Though stern, Bryant’s approach was always rooted in order to achieve excellence, exemplifying the legendary ‘Mamba Mentality’. This was not the only time when somebody spoke about Kobe Bryant’s mental games.

Stopping Kobe Bryant was not everybody’s cup of tea

On The OGs podcast with Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller, Shane Battier shared a heartwarming story. The former Miami Heat player would always refer to analysis and read about players’ weaknesses. Yet he didn’t think he could wear down Bryant mentally.

But the 2xNBA champion never said he would be the one to stop Bryant since that would just p*ss him off. Battier admitted that he and Bryant never had a relationship off the court. They would exchange pleasantries here and there but never had anything beyond that. He even still remembers the stats that would be considered as some sort of weakness.

But Kobe Bryant mentioned Battier’s defense and his techniques in his book, where he mentioned Kobe Stoppers and the story about Battier – “Shane did something very smart where he never said he could guard me and always downplayed his ability to play me, but I saw that as false humility and I attacked him because of it.“

So Kobe Bryant’s measurement of success is not only measured by his on-court stats but off-court teachings as well. His teammates and his opponents fondly remember the times playing with or against him.

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