Kobe Bryant once won a $5000 bet and one-up LeBron James
Chris Duhon played his final year in the NBA with Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers. The Lakers acquired him in a four-team trade that saw Dwight Howard land in Hollywood. Duhon retired following the 2012-13 season.
On the “KarterKast” podcast, the former NBA player shared a never-before-heard Bryant story regarding a $5000 bet, which Bryant won. Duhon said:
“When you get on the plane, you can get the sheets from all the scores and stats from everyone that’s played on that day. We’re kind of going through it and I was sitting next to him at that time. He was like, ‘LeBron (James) gets another triple-double.’
“I was like, ‘S**t, you ain’t never get one of them because your a** don’t pass.’ And he starts laughing, and he was like, ‘Alright, I bet you $5,000 I get a triple-double the next game (which he eventually did).’ I’m like, ‘Bet it.’ Sure enough, he was one assist and one rebound shy at halftime. Every time he was doing it, he was just looking at me and winking.”
The game Duhon likely referred to was against the Dallas Mavericks on Apr. 2, 2013. Kobe Bryant finished the game with 23 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, four steals and two blocks, leading the LA Lakers to a 101-81 win. KB24 was two rebounds and an assist shy of a triple-double by halftime.
LeBron James had a game three nights after Bryant had recorded a triple-double. King James led the Miami Heat to a 106-87 win over the Orlando Magic. He ended the game with 27 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Kobe Bryant finished that season with two triple-doubles, while LeBron James, named the NBA MVP, had four.
Kobe Bryant reportedly once claimed that he could record a triple-double every game
Chris Duhon didn’t end his story with Kobe Byrant winning the $5,000 bet. The former backup guard added:
“We talked after the game. … He was just like, ‘If I wanted to, I can get a triple-double every game. But, my team needs me to score. I wanna take the hearts out of anyone that’s guarded me and the other team knowing that they can’t stop me.
The Mamba Mentality. That was just his mentality. He wanted to go out, compete at the highest level and make sure that you know that he was the player on the court at all times.”
A big part of Kobe Bryant’s legend was his unrelenting desire to succeed and improve his game. He was fiercely competitive and had a no-holds-barred approach against opponents. The Duhon story told a familiar theme about how Bryant competed.