$5000 Challenge Triggered Kobe Bryant to Move Away From Natural Playing Style After Lakers Teammate Touched a Nerve

One former NBA pro got a gleeful lesson on what happens when you give Kobe Bryant a challenge. Naturally, you’d lose. But his teammate was glad about it. It means seeing the Mamba Mentality at play firsthand. A simple challenge provoked the competitive Bryant to shift away from his usual strategy so he could rub a friend’s nose in. But he’d also tell his friend why he played the way he did.

That Lakers pro would later reveal how moments like this showcased the brilliance and versatility of the Black Mamba. And also proved what a fun teammate he was to have.

Kobe Bryant extorted thousands from a teammate

Former Duke player, Chris Duhon, ended his NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2012-13 season. He had the good fortune of being Kobe Bryant’s teammate and by all accounts, their friendship was pretty awesome. Duhon revealed one such anecdote of how he provoked the Bean to do something different on the court.

The incident happened when the team was on the road and analyzing their individual statistics from the last game. LeBron James was leading in triple-doubles as per usual. In his entire career, Bryant had 21 triple-doubles in regular season games. James has made 107 and counting.

That prompted Duhon to tease him, “You ain’t never gonna get one of them because your a** don’t pass.” Bryant laughed it off but went on to say, “I bet you $5000 that I get a triple-double the next game.”

Duhon couldn’t recall but it was the game against Utah Jazz where Bryant earned that $5000. As per Duhon, he was one assist and two rebounds away at halftime. He recorded 14 points, 14 assists, and 9 rebounds.

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This was uncommon for Bryant, whose play style was said to be “selfish.” But for good reason, as he told Duhon. “If I wanted to, I could have got a triple-double every game. But my team needs me to score and I wanna take the hearts out of anyone that’s guarding me and the other team knowing that they can’t stop me.”

This anecdote is from a 2022 interview. But it’s resurfaced in relation to King James making the most Mamba Mentality statement ever.

LeBron James channels Black Mamba

Before he indirectly cost Chris Duhon $5000, LeBron James was not winning any scoring titles in 2010. Not to be deterred by the media scrutiny, he said, “If I really wanted to win the scoring title, I could win it every single year.” That kind of confidence would make Kobe proud.

Duhon would testify that this strategy to be the best on the court is the famous ‘Mamba Mentality.’ Since his Kobe anecdote resurfaced, social media users similarly pointed out, “More rebounds or assists don’t mean better. More stats doesn’t always equate to better when it comes to superstars.”

Therefore, scoring titles and triple-double records don’t determine the greatness of the Black Mamba and King James. And pretty soon, James will also share the honor with another player.

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This is another instance of Kobe Bryant setting the template to be the best. What’s your favorite story of the ‘Mamba Mentality?’