Luke Walton, the newly appointed Lakers head coach, appeared on Uninterrupted's "Open Run" podcast with Jesse Williams and shared an awesome story about Kobe Bryant and his killer instinct.
Walton, who played with Kobe for nearly a decade, recalled that he once showed up to practice during his rookie year after a night of partying and The Black Mamba smelled blood. Figuratively speaking of course. What he really smelled was the alcohol that was still on Walton's breath and seeping out of his pores.
Naturally, Kobe took this as an opportunity to teach Walton a lesson, forcing the rookie to guard him for the entire practice without any help defense.
Here's what Walton had to say about that infamous practice.
"I remember one time my rookie year, I came in a little, uh, him [Kobe] and Shaq like to do this as, I think it was just rookies, but any young guy, I probably had too much to drink the night before, so I came in, I was a rookie, I felt good, and they could smell some alcohol on me. And Kobe informed the rest of the team that no one was allowed to help me on defense, and that I had to guard him the entire practice."
"I was laughing at first like, 'Oh, this is funny,' but in Kobe’s mind, in his eyes, it was like, 'No, I see and smell weakness, I’m going to destroy you today.' He taught me that lesson. He probably scored 70-something in practice that day, and I was begging for help, none of the teammates would help. But yeah, his killer instinct and his work ethic, they’ll stick with me forever."
You can listen to the full "Open Run" podcast with Luke Walton right here.
