Derek Richardson officiated 1,540 regular-season and postseason games over a 28-year NBA career before retiring in October 2025. But one memory of Kobe Bryant stands out. During a playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers legend called Richardson out for being out of position on a play involving Bruce Bowen.
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“He was telling me where I needed to be. I’m going down the court thinking, ‘He is right!’” Richardson recalled on Byron Scott’s Fast Break podcast. Bryant was so direct about the official’s mistake that he told him, “Man, you can’t referee.”
Richardson’s stories about Bryant also include a moment from the guard’s teenage years, when he made eight consecutive shots with his left hand during a Lakers practice. Together, the anecdotes show how closely Bryant studied the game, from his own skills to the officials responsible for calling it.
Richardson’s first story went back to a Lakers practice during the playoffs. He was not yet a full-time member of the officiating staff, so officials were sometimes invited to referee the team’s practices.
“The first time we met Kobe, he was 18. I wasn’t on staff at the time, so they used to invite us to referee their practices,” Richardson said.
Jerry West, who orchestrated the Lakers’ 1996 trade to acquire Bryant, was watching from the doorway and told the young guard to get a chair. Bryant then used it to simulate a screen, moving around it and shooting from the baseline.
“Kobe was at the baseline, and they ran around the chair like it was a pick. He hit eight shots in a row with his left hand. That’s when he was 18,” Richardson recalled.
The sequence caught Richardson off guard because Bryant was right-handed.
“I looked at Rodney and said, ‘Yo, man, I thought he was right-handed.’ He said, ‘Dog, he is right-handed!’”
By then, Richardson added, everybody else’s practice was already over. Looking back, Richardson said nobody knew how far Bryant would go, but he believed Jerry West recognized the young guard’s potential early.
The second story came during a playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs. Richardson recalled being too far onto the court instead of positioned closer to the sideline when Bruce Bowen made contact with Bryant on a shot.
“I was on the court a little when I should have been down by the sideline. Bruce Bowen hit Kobe right here, and Kobe made the shot. I thought, ‘Damn, I think he got hit,’ but you don’t guess,” Richardson said.
Bryant immediately pointed out the official’s positioning.
“Man, you’re supposed to step down. You’ve got to see that,” he told Richardson.
The referee soon realized Bryant had a point. He had not been in the best position to see the play, and the Lakers star had noticed.
That exchange affected their relationship for a while. Richardson said Bryant paid close attention to officiating and knew where referees were supposed to stand. The guard was blunt about what he thought of the official’s work.
Richardson then had to find a way to rebuild their rapport. He recalled that the captains would come out to meet officials before games, including Bryant and Derek Fisher. During one such interaction, Richardson brought up a story from Bryant’s rookie year, when the Lakers left George McCloud off their 1997 playoff roster. A contemporary Los Angeles Times report confirms that McCloud was among the players left off the postseason roster. Richardson recalled that Bryant remembered the decision, giving the two something to talk about.
“I had him back on my side because he would help me referee the game. The alpha is the person who helps you manage the game. If you don’t have that alpha, you’re going to have a long night,” Richardson explained.
Asked whether that meant Bryant controlled him on the court, Richardson did not deny it.
“He controlled me, but I had to respect him. He was right.”
Richardson said he witnessed similar moments with other officials throughout his career. The best players understood the game well enough to recognize mistakes and keep referees accountable.
Bryant’s attention to detail extended beyond scoring and defense. He understood positioning, rules and the responsibilities of the officials around him. Richardson’s recollections show why the Lakers legend could command respect even when he was challenging the people in charge of the game.