NBA legend Kobe Bryant was a fierce competitor who did not back down from any challenge. The five-time NBA champion always let his game speak for itself. However, there were times when he shut down his opponents with his words along with his game. When faced with trash talk, the Black Mamba did not budge and would give back double fold. A resurfaced clip of one such incident with one of Bryant’s former teammates has fans going wild on social media.

A major reason behind the success of Bryant is arguably his competitiveness which led to his obsession to work harder. The Los Angeles Lakers legend displayed this fearlessness even as a young star.

Kobe Bryant laughed at the trash-talk attempt

Kobe faced multiple tough defenders over the course of his career. Notably, Bryant once stated that Tony Allen was the toughest defender he ever had to play against. Another player who could be a close second was Metta Sandiford-Artest who was the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year. The former Lakers star was a tough defender who could also score important baskets. He was very aggressive early in his career and is infamous for Malice in the Palace incident which is considered one of the ugliest moments in the league’s history.

Bryant and Sandiford-Artest have locked horns multiple times before he joined the Lakers. Recently, a video clip of their battle during the 2000 NBA champion’s time with the Houston Rockets resurfaced on Instagram.

In the clip, Artest was seen saying that Kobe was not ready for him. The 2008 NBA MVP could not contain his laughter hearing this. He replied, “You a stand-up comedian now!”?

Hilariously, Kobe had already scored 33 at that point. The game was from 2009 when both teams went toe to toe.

Artest talked trash to Kobe with just 28 seconds left on the clock. The Lakers clinched the close game 102-96 away from home with Bryant scoring 18 points in just the last quarter.

Fans loved Kobe Bryant’s response

Fans went wild seeing Kobe Bryant dominating a tough opponent like Metta Sandiford-Artest with both his words and his game. A lot of fans flooded the comment section to express their opinion. One fan stated, “Cooked him.”

Against Kobe, fans thought “Even the Greatest defenders stood NO chance.”

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Some couldn’t deny Bryant his ruthlessness. “Bruh the way he laughed at him.”

Another fan commented about Sandiford-Artest joining the Lakers, “Cooked artest so bad he had to join the Lakers in the summer.”

“Kobe too dam too cold”?another user mused.

The general consensus in the comments was “Toughest player ever, it’s a Mamba thang.”

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