Recently, San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan shared a hilarious story about Kobe Bryant from earlier in his career.
DeRozan was on Instagram Live with retired NBA journeyman Nate Robinson on Wednesday.
The Spurs guard recalled a time when he faced an angry Bryant during a game between his former team, the Toronto Raptors, and Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers.
It happened during a time in the NBA when there was an unwritten rule amongst players that one should never wear an opposing player’s signature shoes when going up against him.
Though DeRozan followed the rule, the decision didn’t sit well with Bryant at all.
DeMar with a great Kobe story 😂💜
(🎥 @YahooSportsNBA / @nicekicks) pic.twitter.com/fOvKTjmAFu
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 26, 2020
“I always wore Kobes bro, but whenever we played the Lakers, I didn’t wear them, right?” DeRozan told Robinson. “So there was one game we were playing them, we’re playing the Lakers in Toronto, I said, ‘Man, f— that, he’s about to kill us,’ and I’ve got his shoes on, and I’m guarding him, right? So I’ll wear some Jordans. So I wore some Jordans, Jordan Xs. As soon as he walked on the court, he was mad as a motherf—– bro!
“Bro he said, ‘Is this what you want? That’s what you’re doing?’ Bro, I swear to God, I said, ‘My bad bro. I got you. I got you.’”
DeRozan, a native of Compton, Calif., idolized Bryant and was devastated when he found out about the Laker legend’s passing last January.
“It’s always meant so much to me to be able to wear his shoes just because of our relationship and how he handpicked me to wear them,” DeRozan said after Bryant’s untimely death. “I’ve always worn his shoe proudly, and continued to have his shoe live on. That was always my plan, even before this whole thing — to honor him and everything he stood for.”
Rather than be insulted by an opponent wearing his shoes, Bryant was proud of DeRozan’s sneaker choice. Since the matchup in Toronto in 2012, the Spurs guard has not worn another signature sneaker on the court.
