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Lakers Kobe Bryant, left, and Metta World Peace react to a referee’s call at the Staples Center Tuesday. (Photo by Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Lakers Kobe Bryant, left, and Metta World Peace react to a referee’s call at the Staples Center Tuesday. (Photo by Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Kobe Bryant won 5 NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers over the course of his 20-year-long NBA career. But his last 2 rings as the clear-cut leader were arguably his greatest achievements.
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During those 2 championship runs, Kobe had a great team built around him that bolstered his claim to those 2 rings. One of those players was Ron Artest (Metta World Peace), who joined the Lakers in the 2009-10 season.
Artest recently shared a great story about the late legend Kobe Bryant on the “All the Smoke” podcast. “I go to ref and said, ‘Did you just not see him [Kobe] do that?’ and he said, ‘No, I didn’t see him’.
“So I go to Kobe and I am like ‘My brother, don’t you ever do that again my guy’… Kobe don’t care, Kobe was focused on the game. Kobe is a killer. He is different and I look up to Kobe.”
Artest further talked about his experience of playing alongside Kobe and ultimately winning a ring together.
“It was just amazing… Practice was very competitive right away, you know how Kobe is… I miss those moments with Kobe and him just playing really well working hard at 5:30 in the morning.”
Kobe was definitely one of the hardest workers in the league. He had practice routines and the drive to win above everyone else. Ultimately, this helped him throughout his career and he will forever be remembered as an all-time great in the game of basketball.
A look back at the repeat by Kobe Bryant and the Lakers
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LOS ANGELES, CA — SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013 — The Lakers Kobe Bryant watches the game slip away during their 109-95 loss to the Clippers on Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
When Shaq was traded to the Heat, the burden of carrying the team fell on Kobe’s shoulders. For the first few years, it took him some time to adjust to the new role. But once Kobe had a perfect team built around him, he tore the league apart.
The 2009 and 2010 Lakers were a team to be feared, and rightfully so. The 2010 NBA Finals were a thing of beauty, long-time rivals Lakers and Celtics battled it out for the title and the purple and gold came out on top.
Although it took them 7 games to clinch the title, it was a precious moment in the franchise’s history. After that title, Kobe started to decline slowly due to recurring injuries, but he had already built a Hall of Famer resume before calling it quits in 2016.
