On Sunday, Kobe Bryant announced once and for all that the 2015-16 NBA season would be his last.
The legacy Kobe will leave on the game of basketball is immeasurable, but Bryant wasn’t just a dynamic scorer, defender and leader, he was also great at talking trash.
KG probably gets the nod for most notorious trash talker of his generation, but Kobe can’t be far behind, and there are dozens of examples of his impressive boasting. From the time he went back and forth with MJ at the 2003 All Star Game, to when he hilariously called out Dwight Howard, to when he made a clutch free-throw while laughing in Gerald Wallace’s face, Kobe knows how to get under someone’s skin, or throw it back at someone who tries to get under his. Heck, Kobe will even talk trash to the president of the United States if given the opportunity.
But the third leading scorer of all-time is on his last legs nowadays and can’t back up his talk as much as he used to. Assuredly, some young NBA player who thinks Bryant’s final season is their last opportunity to get in a few pot shots at the legend. Bryant, at age 37, has only one rule for those who try to come at him.
For the record, Kobe played his first career game on November 3, 1996, four days after the birth of the NBA’s youngest player, Devin Booker.
