So many people have their Kobe Bryant stories, and now that he has passed, it never gets old hearing them. One such great Kobe story came from Chandler Parsons.
Parsons was a guest on this week’s episode of “All the Smoke.” During his interview, Parsons shared the tale about the time he faced Kobe as a rookie.
Parsons shared that Kevin McHale, who was his coach on the Houston Rockets at the time, tried prepping his players for the experience of facing the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. He cautioned them about all the celebrity sightings they would experience. And McHale specifically warned Parsons to be prepared for Bryant, who would likely take it as a personal insult that the rookie was guarding him.
Parsons said that around the fourth quarter, Bryant asked him whether the Rockets were spending the night in Los Angeles. The Lakers star told Parsons he was going to hook him up that night at a club and make sure he was taken care of. Parsons said he got all his teammates and coaches hyped up for the night at the club, but started sweating bullets when the bill came. He thought he was being setup by Kobe and was surprised when Bryant really came through by covering the bill.
The way Parsons tells it is great, but beware of the language.
The story checks out, too. The Rockets lost to the Lakers at Staples 108-99 on Jan. 3, 2012, which was the team’s fifth game that season. Bryant had 37 points, not far off from the 40 Parsons said Kobe had scored.
That’s a great story. It’s too bad Kobe’s not around to tell us his side. But if he were, he probably would say that $22,000 was cheap in order to soften up his opponent in the fourth quarter that game.
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