The NBA has always been full of some of the best trash talkers ever seen in all of sports. Arguably the best of this era is the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green. The Los Angeles Lakers have already witnessed Green’s talking ability plenty of times, but someone who he wouldn’t trash talk is Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
Bryant has long been one of the most respected players in the league, but he could talk trash with the biggest mouths the league had to offer. Green learned that firsthand early on in his career, and from that day on, never tried it with Bryant again.
Green recently spoke with Sam Alipour of ESPN the Magazine and discussed the people he doesn’t talk trash to. After remembering the non-response of Tim Duncan, Green recalled Kobe quickly shutting him down:
“The guy I’d never waste my breath on? Tim Duncan. As a rookie, I tried talking junk to Tim, and he was like a tree staring back at me. [Laughs] No expression. I said, “All right. It’s over.” Never talked junk to him again. After that, anytime he fell, I’d be the first person to help him up, like I was his teammate. [Laughs] I also tried talking junk to Kobe [Bryant], maybe my second year. On a potential game winner, Mark Jackson put me in to guard him, and I got the stop. I said, “Yeah, I’m locking that s— up!” He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “That miss ain’t got nothing to do with you. Sit down.” I said, “Oh, s—! All right, I’m out.”
Kobe has never had any problem engaging with any player who dared to talk to him during the game, but that player better have some clout. A young Draymond Green was not at that level just yet and Kobe made sure he knew it.
These days, it doesn’t seem like there is any player Green isn’t willing to try and trash talk as he goes at any and everyone on a daily basis. But he’ll never forget being shut down by Kobe Bryant.
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