What It Was Really Like To Be Kobe Bryant's Teammate

Considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Kobe Bryant was widely respected and loved by his former teammates and colleagues in the NBA. So much so that following his tragic death in January 2020, many celebrities were left devastated. "There's no words to express the pain I'm going through with this tragedy of loosing my neice [sic] Gigi & my brother @kobebryant I love u and u will be missed," former teammate Shaquille O'Neal wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Bryant, who spent all of his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, left a lasting legacy on his team and the league at large, one of which was his unwavering competitive spirit. By the end of his career, Bryant had popularized the "Mamba mentality," a philosophy reflecting his relentless commitment to success. And as many of his teammates can attest, living up to Bryant's standard was no easy task. "He was harder on himself than anyone else, you know, and so, of course, he's gonna demand the best out of everyone around him," former Lakers player Mark Madsen said of the late icon in an interview with Legends of Sport.

But Bryant's need for perfection was no substitute for teamwork, as he also had a knack for pushing his teammates to be the best. "What you have to do is you have to get them emotionally to want to be better. You have to get them to an emotional space where they wake up every morning driven to be the best version of themselves," Bryant shared when visiting USC. Yet, that is not all there was to having Kobe Bryant as a teammate.

When Dwight Howard was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012, fans imagined teaming up with Kobe Bryant would help the Lakers bring the championship home. Things, however, did not go as expected, with Bryant hardly welcoming Howard's addition to the team. According to former NBA player Jalen Rose, Bryant was against Howard joining the Lakers, reportedly predicting early on that the pairing would not work out well. 

Riding off the stardom of his accomplishments with the Orlando Magic, Howard struggled to keep up with Bryant's intense approach to playing. "I just felt like that at the time. It was really hard for me and Kobe to really communicate. I think we were just at two different mental stages," he shared during an Instagram Live (via Sports Illustrated). Howard also admitted that it was hard to keep up with Bryant's skills and standards on the team. "It was difficult playing with Kobe," he admitted during a 2024 appearance on Gilbert Arena's podcast, Gil's Arena. "Because one, it's the expectation of winning, and then two, it's like everybody expected me and Kobe to be like the new Kobe and Shaq."

Despite their rocky relationship, however, the pair was able to set their differences aside, eventually forging a cordial relationship after Howard's departure from the Lakers. "I probably haven't cried as hard as I have in a while," Howard recalled his reaction to the tragic news in an interview with ESPN. "It wasn't because we were close, close friends, it's just like, man, I just never thought that it'd be Kobe."

Though Antawn Jamison spent only one season with the Lakers after signing with them in 2012, it was long enough for Kobe Bryant to leave a lasting impression on him. While appearing on the "Max & Marcellus Show," Jamison opened up about Bryant's no-nonsense style of playing, explaining that it only made their team better. "It's great to be with him. I love a guy who expects so much from his teammates. He pushes his teammates," he added (via ESPN). 

Even years after their time playing together, Jamison still couldn't stop singing Bryant's praises. In a 2023 chat with Vince Carter on "The VC Show" (via NBA on ESPN), Jamison recounted his time playing with Bryant, describing it as a great learning experience. "Our lockers were right next to each other. You know me, I'm like, 'It's one of the greatest ever players,' so I'm just like a sponge, and he was so receptive. The thing about Kob, if you dedicated yourself to the game of basketball and you wanted to win, he was the best teammate ever." But while his time playing with the Lakers was an unforgettable experience, Jamison's most memorable moment with Bryant happened long before joining the team.

Playing with the Golden State Warriors in 2000, Jamison faced Bryant in an epic face-off during which he made history as the first player to score 50 points against the Lakers shooting guard. "For me, it was definitely one of the highlights of my career ... To do it against Kobe Bryant, it went down in the history books," Jamison admitted at a 2012 press conference.

While some got inspired playing on the same team as Kobe Bryant, for others, the experience was not as memorable. In 2012, Andrew Bynum, who played with the Lakers for seven seasons, shared his experience playing alongside Bryant. While it initially seemed like the perfect learning experience, it soon became evident that Bryant's refusal to pass the ball was hurting Bynum's career. "Later, I felt I was able to get the ball more and do more things with the ball, so I could definitely see how it could stunt growth," he told ESPN at the time.

Despite the seemingly unflattering comment, though, Bryant took no offense, instead describing Bynum as a "special player" and praising his skills on the court. "For sure, because when you're playing with me you obviously have to sacrifice something," Bryant added, acknowledging Bynum's claims. "Same thing with me and Shaq. You kind of off-set each other to a certain extent. So, I mean, that's true."

But while the two might have had some friction on the court, Bryant always recognized Bryant's talents as well as his commitment to the game. "The thing that I like about him is that he has an engine inside of him and he wants to do well, he wants to dominate," Bryant shared in an interview with ESPN, adding that Bynum's dedication to success was one of the best things about being his teammate.

During his time in the NBA, Kobe Bryant was entangled in a few feuds in the NBA — sometimes with opponents and other times with his own teammates. In 2005, Smush Parker signed a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, joining several longtime team members, including Bryant whom he seemingly got along with on the court. The pair's relationship, however, did not extend beyond the basketball court. "The man never spoke to me," Parker shared during an appearance on Pablo Torre Finds Out. "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?" 

Bryant's hostility was, however, not because of a lack of trying on Parker's part. During the conversation, Parker recounted the time he tried striking up a conversation with Bryant and how it was instantly shut down. "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 talk to me,'" he explained. But not even distance was enough to lay the feud between the two men to rest.

After leaving the Lakers, Parker described playing with Bryant as "overrated" (via Essentially Sports), a comment that would end up escalating the feud. In response, Bryant fired back at Parker, discrediting his skills and career in the league. "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 once said in an interview (via Lakers Blog).

Though Shaquille O'Neal had developed a blossoming friendship with Kobe Bryant at the time of his death in 2020, things were not always rosy between the two. In fact, in the early 2000s, Bryant and O'Neal had one of the most famous feuds in NBA history. At the time, O'Neal frequently called Bryant out, often attacking him and accusing him of playing selfishly on the basketball court. Bryant, was, however, not having it with O'Neal's claims, which he described as unfounded. "That's ridiculous. I have been successfully sacrificing my game for years for Shaq." Bryant said in rebuttal (via Essentially Sports).

Things between the pair came to a head when they got into an altercation one day at practice. According to veteran player Olden Polynice, the fight started with Bryant confronting O'Neal and O'Neal subsequently hitting Bryant across the face. "They were just two alpha males who couldn't coexist," Polynice told ESPN of the pair's feud. "Shaq's mindset was, 'This is my team.' Kobe's mindset was, 'Nobody's gonna punk me.' You can't have two alpha males. It doesn't work."

O'Neal and Bryant were, however, eventually able to put their differences aside, with the pair forging a friendship after their time together as teammates. "We never took it seriously. In truth, Kobe and I always maintained a deep respect and a love for one another," O'Neal said in his speech at Bryant's memorial in February 2020.

For Pau Gasol, playing with Kobe Bryant meant one thing — he was constantly motivated to do better. In a press conference following his jersey retirement with the Lakers, Gasol gave a glimpse into his professional relationship with Bryant, noting that the famous shooting guard motivated him to give his best to the game. "He really elevated me, I think as he did with most of the players that we had, I think all of us," Gasol added. 

After a successful seven-year career with the Memphis Grizzlies, Gasol was traded to the Lakers in 2008, where he played for six seasons before signing with the Chicago Bulls. During their time playing together, Gasol and Bryant formed a strong bond on the court, teaming up to win back-to-back championships for the Lakers in 2009 and 2010. While Bryant is largely recognized as the face behind those victories, he also often highlighted Gasol's role in the team's success. "The reality is, I don't win those championships without Pau. The city of LA doesn't have those two championships without Pau. So, we know that. Everybody knows that," Bryant said in 2018. 

At the time, the Black Mamba also predicted that his and Gasol's retired jerseys would be hanging side by side. "I'll be looking forward to the day when he's there giving me his speech at center court in front of all the fans who have supported him over the years," Bryant shared (via the Daily Mail). This prediction would eventually come to life in March 2023 when the Lakers retired Gasol's jersey — right next to Bryant's in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena.

During his seven years playing with the Los Angeles Lakers, Lamar Odom formed a deep connection with Kobe Bryant, both as a teammate and as a close friend. "On the court, he taught me how to carve out defenses and how to take my time. How to make winning my ultimate goal," Odom wrote on Instagram (via Sports Illustrated). "Off the court he taught me to sign my own checks lol."  In a 2023 appearance on The Knuckleheads Podcast, Odom also opened up about his experience working with Bryant, whom he described as an amazing teacher. "Kobe, I mean, as a teammate, was easy to learn from. Like, if you ain't learned from him, then you was stupid. You wasn't really about that life," he shared on the show. 

Bryant's influence was, however, not limited to basketball alone, as he played an equally important role in Odom's personal life. During an appearance on the "All The Smoke" podcast by Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Odom, who previously struggled with a gambling addiction, opened up about reaching out to Bryant for help after accruing some gambling debts. "After he went in, he was just like, 'Have your people call my people, and we'll figure it out,' " Odom shared. "That was one before the last time that I spoke to him."

Shooting guard Shannon Brown, who had a two-year stint with the Lakers between 2009 and 2011, will always remember his time with Kobe Bryant fondly. While with the Lakers, the pair forged a close friendship, with Bryant seemingly taking Brown under his wings. Yet, even with the years of experience between them, Bryant had a lot of respect for Brown's dunking skills. "I don't know if I can do that. I do a lot of s***, but doing that?" Bryant once admitted via the Los Angeles Times. "He's just extremely explosive, it's fun to watch."

After Brown left the Lakers to sign with the Phoenix Suns, the pair maintained their bond, with Bryant often referring to Brown as his brother. As a result, Bryant dreaded playing against Brown. "I don't like playing against my little brothers," Bryant admitted after a 2012 match against the Suns (via ESPN). "I don't like it. I watched him develop. I watched him grow. Taught him a lot of things. Those are always tough games for me." In the same vein, Brown explained that his connection with Bryant sometimes made it challenging to face him on the basketball court. "The competitive part is still there, but you never want to see a person that you built a close, close relationship to fail in any type of way," he added. 

In 1996, Derek Fisher was selected 24th overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers. In that same draft, the Lakers traded their starting center Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant. The two players would go on to form a friendship, enduring even long after Fisher's departure from the team. In 2013, Bryant famously named Fisher his favorite teammate of all time. "Just because he has the attitude of a champion," Bryant explained while on a panel. "That stuff is really hard to find; a person that has that kind of grit and that togetherness and that makes no excuses."

Fisher, in turn, also admired Bryant, whom he credited for influencing him in other ways outside of basketball and the court. "We were talking about family, kids, and life, [and] he said something that struck me and altered my perspective on decision-making around what you want to get out of life, personally and professionally," Fisher recounted in an interview with Basket News. Unsurprisingly, Bryant's tragic death came as a rude shock to Fisher, who continues to struggle with the reality of the loss. "Sometimes when I'm preparing my mind to talk about him. It hurts to say 'was'. It hurts to talk about it as though he's not here," he admitted during an appearance on "Byron Scott's Fast Break" podcast. 

Long before he was drafted into the NBA, Trevor Ariza found inspiration in Kobe Bryant. The pair first met in 1997 during a Lakers meet-and-greet where fans came face to face with their favorite players. "Once I met him, I felt like there's always an opportunity," Ariza recalled to the Los Angeles Daily News. "If I can get this close to where I can touch somebody, I feel like I can get to that point. He definitely gave me a lot of motivation to work."

In 2007, Ariza's dreams came full circle after he was traded to the Lakers, where he finally got the chance to play alongside Bryant. During their time together, the pair forged a close bond, with Ariza getting a glimpse of Bryant's incredible work ethic. Particularly, watching Bryant prepare for every game and every season left a lasting impression on Ariza. "He taught me how to work smarter instead of doing a whole bunch of things I might never use," he added.

Ariza's most memorable experience playing with Bryant came in 2008 when the Lakers lost the NBA Championship to the Boston Celtics. Gutted, Ariza struggled to come to terms with the loss but soon found strength in Bryant's mentorship and advice. "Two days after we lost, we're back in LA, and I get a text from bro, like, 'You know, this is the blueprint. This is what we're going to do. This is how you are going to help this team get better,'" (via Basketball Network).