Kobe Bryant showed up at Lakers practice to say bye to 'bums' before 2015 trade deadline

Just like his idol and "big brother" Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant was also a fierce competitor, on and off the basketball court. The Lakers legend won five NBA championships and various individual honours while playing in LA over the course of his distinguished career in the league. Numerous stories were shared about his relentless quest to be the best in whatever he did by his teammates after his tragic death earlier this year in January. His former Lakers teammate Jeremy Lin recently shared another Kobe Bryant story that shows what type of a player the 'Black Mamba' was during his playing days.

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Kobe Bryant and Jeremy Lin

Kobe Bryant showed up at Lakers practice to say bye to 'bums' before 2015 trade deadline, says Jeremy Lin

While speaking in an interview with Robby Kalland at Dime On UPROXX, Jeremy Lin spoke about Bryant's attitude as a player and as a teammate. The 2019 NBA Champion was quoted as saying, “He comes in, sweatsuit [on], he has a sling around for his hurt shoulder, he has his shades on, his Kobe shades. And he walks in and everyone’s like, ‘Ohhhh’ and Booz, Carlos Boozer, is like ‘Kob! Good to see you bro! Dang, we haven’t seen you in a bit, how come you came today?’ And he was just stone-faced, and he was like, ‘I just came by to say bye to some of you bums who are going to get traded tomorrow.’ [laughs] And then he sits down at the table where you control the scoreboard at the practice facility and he said a couple words to the coach, and then he left. And I remember one of my teammates was just like - I lost all motivation to practice."

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The 2014-2015 Lakers team is regarded as one of the worst sides in the franchise's history as the team ended up winning just 21 games over the course of the season. Kobe Bryant missed 35 games that season due to injury. Prior to that season, Kobe Bryant missed a major chunk of the entire 2013-14 campaign recovering from an Achilles tear. The 'Black Mamba' averaged 22.3 points that season but shot just 37.3 percent from the field. Kobe Bryant and Jeremy Lin spent just one season together as the latter left for Charlotte Hornets the following season. Jeremy Lin won his first and only NBA Championship last season while playing for Toronto Raptors and currently plays for Beijing Ducks in China.

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