‘Work at This S**t’: Former Teammate Explains How Kobe Bryant Motivated His Kids to Focus on Basketball

Published 10/07/2021, 12:30 PM EDT

On the court, Kobe Bryant was one of the most ferocious players you could face. His intensity and passion to win took out any distractions for him. However, off the hardwood, he was a loving father to his beautiful daughters. Hence, he knew his way around kids.

But when it came to work, Kobe treated everyone the same. The ‘Mamba’ knew exactly what to do in order to bring the best out of one’s skills. Even with his daughter, Giannis Bryant, he would practice with her anytime he got.

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He even helped other kids and conducted workouts for them. Matt Barnes, a former teammate of Kobe, recently shared an incident where Kobe helped him out with his kids.

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Matt Barnes talks about when Kobe Bryant helped his kids

While speaking with Gilbert Arenas, the topic of Barnes’ coaching came up. Matt Barnes is coaching his kids’ team and they are one of the top teams for their age group. While talking about his twins, he revealed that they always had the basketball IQ, but were not willing to work.

This is where Kobe made his way in. He did what he does best and lit the fire for them to put in the work. Barnes spoke about how Bryant made them work hard in the gym. He would even go to their games and help them get better. Barnes spoke about the time he took his kids to Kobe for their 10th birthday.

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“I remember I took him in to workout with them for their 10th birthday.” Then Kobe found out that they have been playing video games all day.

Barnes continued saying, “So when they get there you know, ‘where do you guys wanna go to school’. Simultaneously, ‘we’re going to UCLA’, and Kobe’s like no you’re not. These boys are like, we’re not? No, if you guys don’t work at your game. Like your dad said you guys are good. You guys play video games, you might be computer nerds or this but you’re not gonna play basketball. They’re still kind of confused like we’re not? Like no you got to work at this s**t.”

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Kobe Bryant followed this up by busting them up in his workout. Kobe did the most ‘Mamba’ thing to do, to make them realize that to reach their goals, hard work is the most important.

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Anuj Talwalkar is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He is a student studying at NM College in Mumbai, aspiring to pursue sports management to follow his love for sports. Anuj started following the NBA last year, and he loves to combine his passion for writing with his understanding of basketball.

‘Work at This S**t’: Former Teammate Explains How Kobe Bryant Motivated His Kids to Focus on Basketball

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Matt Barnes talks about when Kobe Bryant helped his kids