Kobe Believes Lakers Fans Will Be ‘Laughing At All The Warriors Fans’ When LeBron Wins A Title Soon


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Kobe Bryant, apparently in the process of becoming professor emeritus for the Los Angeles Lakers in his second year of retirement, joined head coach Luke Walton, general manager Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss at an event called Lakers All-Access on Monday night to give his thoughts, questions and concerns about the state of 14-9 Lakers. He had a lot of them.

It must be strange to be LeBron James, sitting at home and watching a former Lakers great just a few years older than you wax poetic on the state of the franchise you now helm, but it comes with the territory. And Bryant seems more optimistic about the LeBron’s stewardship than some of us on the outside looking in, via Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times.

“Coming in here, this organization, this city, it’s not anything that is new to him,” Bryant said. “He’s always had the spotlight, right? He’s been able to deal with that gracefully. I think the difference here is that you have a collection of players with a lot of talent all young. And so the challenge is, can they figure out what their games are individually, sooner rather than later?”

“Because at the beginning of the season, you saw a collection of individual talent trying to figure out what they can do and where they can do it on the floor,” Bryant continued. “What about their games? But at the same time how to figure out how to make those games blend in as a group. You can’t have one before the other, see what I’m saying? So it’s a test of Bron’s patience, and also doing what he needs to do to keep the team’s head above water. So it’s a balancing act.”


As the season has lurched forward, LeBron has expressed surprise at much he’s had to have the ball in his hands, especially as he’s had to scratch the game plan in recent 4th quarters to takeover the game to keep the Lakers from blowing leads. Kobe, in what maybe amounts to the slightest bit of shade, said that’s not a recipe for success, but is a “recipe to keep your head above water.”

Ever the insane competitor, Kobe couldn’t resist finishing up his interview without taking a shot at the defending champs. Asked if the Lakers will win a championship with LeBron in tow, the Black Mamba didn’t hesitate.

“Of course they will. Of course they will,” Bryant repeated. “They have determination to figure it out. They will figure it out. They have talented pieces …. So enjoy the journey because we’ll be champions before you know it. Then we’ll just be laughing at all the Warrior fans.”

This is what Lakers fans want to hear and are, essentially, demanding that LeBron deliver before his time in L.A. is up.

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