As one of the most competitive individuals in basketball, Kobe Bryant was not short on opponents. His rivals had one thing in common: they were equally hungry to get an edge. One of Kobe’s most iconic rivals is Gilbert Arenas. The former Wizards player always reserved his best for the Black Mamba during their battles against one another. Recently, Arenas spoke about how he got under the 5-time champion’s skin once.

Just like Kobe, Arenas was known for being one of the most talented scorers of his generation. However, his NBA career did not do him justice. Battling through issues off the field as well as being plunged with injuries, fans did not see all of Arenas.

Despite all the difficulties, Gilbert Arenas never backed down from a challenge. So when Bryant talked his smack, Arenas knew just what to do.

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In a recent interview, Arenas spoke about going to battle with Kobe and getting under his skin.

Gilbert Arenas gets his own Kobe Bryant shoe

While in an interview, Arenas spoke about the time his friend met Bryant in Disneyland. However, their meeting didn’t go as all Arenas pictured. His friend went on to tell the Mamba that Agent Zero was going to beat him down. In the most Kobe fashion, he knew all about Gilbert and said he needs to come off the bench to do that. So once Arenas knew about this, he hit Kobe with a jab that surely hit.

Arenas said: “That’s when I said, he knows my name? Oh, it’s on now. So I call Adidas and I said I think I want to irritate Kobe today. Can you make his shoe in my colorway? They like, yeah, we can do that. So I come on the court. He just staring at the shoes and he starts doing ‘All right, this is how we playing. Alright’. And I am sitting here like is he getting it. Like he is really angry.”

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Through the years, these two elite scorers faced off 16 times in their NBA careers. And each time one or the other put on a show. Kobe Bryant got the best of Arenas winning 9 games out of 16in the regular season. Putting up nearly 30 points per game, the Mamba did not hold back against Agent Zero. However, despite their intense rivalry, fans never got the treat of watching them go head to head in a playoff series.

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With such intense competition. Arenas also prevailed. He had one of his best games against Kobe scoring 60 points to take the Wizards to a win. But Bryant made him work for every bucket as he dropped 45 himself. Such back-and-forth rivalry is hard to come by in the NBA, and these two were the very epitome of it. Do you think Arenas could have had a career like Kobe if he didn’t get injured? Let us know in the comments below.