The Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant came into the league as a high-flying two-guard. And he ended up putting quite a lot of players on the poster. Though Kobe had a decent mid-range game, it was his ability to throw down monster jams on top of players that fans remember quite vividly.

And one of the people who remembers it the best is the four-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, Ben Wallace.

Wallace played 16 seasons in the NBA for five different teams. He won four DPOY awards and also an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

Kobe Bryant sparked the fire inside Ben Wallace

Before becoming the defensive juggernaut that he is now known as, Ben Wallace was once humiliated by Kobe Bryant, in a basketball manner of speaking. Wallace and Bryant both were in the 1996 NBA draft.

However, Kobe got drafted 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the first round but Big Ben went undrafted that night. He was later picked up by the Washington Wizards where he played three seasons.

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And during that time, they faced off against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite being just a preseason game against the Washington Wizards, a young Kobe Bryant decided to put on a show for the crowd.

An isolation play was run up for Bryant. He crossed his defender and came soaring in to dunk it down on Ben Wallace. The crowd, the Lakers bench, and even the broadcasters were hyped after the play.

But the most impact it had was on the player on the receiving end of that poster, Ben Wallace. When looking back at that play, Wallace had this to say, ?Without that dunk, I don?t know if I?m the player that I am today. After that, I told myself ?Ben, that?s never gonna happen again?. And you know what? It didn?t.?

The turning point in the career of Big Ben

That play may have been a turning point in Wallace?s career. He went on to meet players soaring in the year and blocking their shots as his forte. Even though Wallace was an undersized center at 6?9, he played bigger than his size.

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And after that, he found his true calling. Being the defensive leader of his team, Wallace provided that spark on defense which used to generate easy offense on the other end. Wallace was inducted into the NBA hall of fame in 2021 and had one of the best speeches anyone has given up on that podium.