Former Lakers Forward Reveals How Kobe Bryant Threatened Him During His Last Game in 2016

Published 02/20/2021, 11:00 PM EST

Kobe Bryant amazed NBA fans with his stellar performances every night during his long and illustrious career. However, little did fans know that his last game would be one of his best nights as an NBA player.

Who doesn’t know about Kobe dropping 60 points against the Utah Jazz back in April 2016?

While Kobe was criticized a lot for not passing enough in his last game, it seemed like the Los Angeles Lakers team had decided on giving all shots to Kobe. Or was there a different story altogether?

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Kobe Bryant snaps at Julius Randle

On ‘The Old Man and The Three’ podcast, Julius Randle was asked whether Kobe had instructed the team to pass him the ball at all times.

“He didn’t have to say it,” Randle confessed. “It was spoken between us as players. It was like, ‘Yo! He’s getting every shot’. We knew that.”

Post that, Randle ended up narrating a funny incident that took place between him and Kobe in this game. There was a play for him to get an in-bound pass, and he wanted to take that shot, but Kobe’s reaction was deadly.

“It was actually a funny part of that game because he had took the ball out and he had inbounded to me, and I was like: ‘Yo, I’m about to come out. I’m shootin’ this time’ or whatever. And he was like: ‘Yo, MF. If you want everybody in this arena to boo you, go ahead. But you better throw me the damn ball,'” Randle said.

Capped off one of the greatest careers of all time

In the second half of the game itself, Kobe had 38 points for the Lakers. He also helped them overcome a 10 point deficit in the last few minutes of the game by dropping 15 points back-to-back. What better way to end a career?

But Kobe did have more to say after this banging performance.

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“After he was like, ‘Yo, y’all lucky I’m retiring because if I was in my prime, bro, this is how it would be every night. You would throw me the ball like this every single night.’ So it was dope, man. It was dope,” explained Randle.

Kobe bid farewell to the NBA the best way he knew: with a bang. This 101-96 win over the Utah Jazz may not be one of his most efficient games. But god forbid if anybody had dared to take the ball out of his hands as the clock on his career was about to hit the buzzer.

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Yashima Bhatia is an NBA writer for EssentiallySports who specialises in providing nuanced predictions and updates for matches. She has a Bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communication. Yashima's love for playing the game came up at a young age, when the excitement of the games coupled with the intensity of the Playoffs had her hooked.

Former Lakers Forward Reveals How Kobe Bryant Threatened Him During His Last Game in 2016

Kobe Bryant snaps at Julius Randle

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Capped off one of the greatest careers of all time