Lakers: One Game Against Kobe Bryant Got DeMar DeRozan to Stop Wearing Jordans
DeMar DeRozan came up through the league idolizing Kobe Bryant. That's not unheard of for the Lakers star. Generations of talent that have come up continuously talk about the impact that he had on their game, and still continues to. He was an icon in the sport.
But there was one specific time that DeMar managed to piss off Kobe enough to change up his game wardrobe. This came when DeRozan was playing with the Raptors and came in with a specific plan of attack against Kobe.
DeRozan spoke about the encounter with Kobe recently. He took the advice of Vince Carter and went with a pair of Jordans rather than Kobe's during the matchup. That was a mistake that he would never make again.
"I said I'm not wearing his shoes and playing against him tonight, so I wore Jordans. He said, 'the [expletive] you got those on for?" He was mad at me for doing that and he ended up hitting the game-winner on us. Never put another pair of Jordans on."
Kobe hit the game-winning shot that night and famously said that the Raptors had left him too much time. The Lakers star also trash-talked DeMar the whole time, the result of disrespecting him with the Jordans. It's all fun, and something DeRozan will likely never forget.
Lesson learned: players know better than to piss off Kobe Bryant when he was playing.
