Lakers Rumors: The time Kobe Bryant cussed out Charles Barkley

Lakers Rumors: There is nobody quite like Kobe Bryant.

Charles Barkley does not hold back when he believes that players, executives or coaches are not doing things the right way. That includes Kobe Bryant. Some get upset, but don’t spend three hours texting expletives. Lake Show Life looks at the game in question and a very entertaining playoff series.

Charles Barkley has long been one of the NBA’s most interesting characters. Very few athletes have been able to transcend playing a sport to taking celebrity to an even higher level in their next chapter on television.

Barkley’s combination of humor and honesty makes him one of the best commentators the NBA has to offer. He along with his cohorts, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and Ernie Johnson has set the blueprint of NBA analysts shows on the multi Emmy award-winning “Inside the NBA” on TNT.

Charles Barkley’s accomplishments on television tend to overshadow these facts.

• He is considered one of the top power forwards in NBA history. Especially for his size.
• He was the NBA Most Valuable Player back in 1993.
• He was the leading scorer on the Dream Team (Yes, this includes Michael Jordan!) in the 1992 Olympics.
• He is on the top 50  ALL-Time NBA players list.

Charles Barkley has acknowledged that his famous no-nonsense approach has angered current and former players over the course of his very successful 20-year broadcasting career with TNT. He even lost his best friend Michael Jordan criticizing his leadership running the then Charlotte Bobcats. There has been no reconciliation.

So if Charles Barkley can ruffle the feathers of Jordan whose grudges are as famous as his NBA accomplishments, how about Kobe Bryant? Lake Show Life has followed Sir Charles’ media exploits in the past.

• Los Angeles Lakers: Charles Barkley invites LeBron James to the TNT Studios for one night!
• Los Angeles Lakers: Is Charles Barkley right about LeBron James?
• Lakers Rumors: How close Charles Barkley came to being a Laker!

Now that the NBA has been out for months and won’t be back for a few more weeks, Barkley has been sharing some of the most memorable moments in his career as a player and broadcaster. It was entertaining to find out how the Icon, Kobe Bryant once cussed him out over the phone via text message for no less than three hours straight.

"“The great Kobe Bryant one night, remember that game he wouldn’t shoot in the second half, I called him out after that,” said Barkley. “He shot one time in the second half – he was trying to prove a point [that] he didn’t have any help, and I was livid [about] what he tried to do, and I called him out, and when I got off the air … Kobe started texting me for the next three hours, and we’re going back and forth and he’s calling me every MF and every SOB in the world, and I’m laughing as I get these and I’m like, ‘Yo man, pick up the phone and call me.’”"

Lake Show Life did some digging and narrowed it down to the Lakers’ 121-90 loss to Phoenix in Game 7 of the first round of the 2006 playoffs. Here are some of the highlights of the Kobe/Barkley debate in context.

• Kobe Bryant took only three shots in the second half.
• After that game, Barkley called Bryant “very selfish” on TNT.
• Barkley claimed that Bryant refused to shoot the ball in order to highlight the lack of support he had around him at that time.

What Charles Barkley said at the 3:00 mark of the video probably set Kobe off.

"“I think he stopped shooting because he wanted to say, ‘Those guys didn’t help me.’ Because normally, if they got down by 20 points, he would try to take over. He was not aggressive at all, he was not shooting the ball.”"

The three-hour texting session definitely sounds like something Kobe would do. Who knows, the breakdowns in the text messages probably planted seeds for his “Detail” series on ESPN+ years later.

This period was in the middle of championship eras when the Lakers offloaded Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat to hand the future of the franchise to Bryant. It couldn’t be easy for anyone in Lakers Nation to watch O’Neal win his fourth NBA ring weeks later.

However, it started an evolution in the overall game of Kobe Bryant and this series was one of the most exciting series of the postseason.

Lake Show Life takes a look back at the series and weighs in on who was right at the time. Was Charles Barkley right in saying that Kobe was selfish? Was Kobe trying to prove a point? Was he making an exit strategy? Let’s start with Kobe’s season. It was epic and there was this game that he seemed to play well in. 

Kobe Bryant led the NBA in scoring by a ton, but there was just this one game against Toronto

In the 2005-06 season, Kobe Bryant put on one of the most dominant scoring displays since Michael Jordan in the 1980s when he had hair. Let’s just forget what James Harden is doing now because simply Kobe Bryant played in a rougher era and the man just did not flop.

That season Kobe Bryant scored when the mood fit him (Boy he was moody that season!) averaging an absurd 35.4 points per game. A career-high. He shot 45% from the field with 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals.

Then there was the 81 game. R.I.P. Stuart Scott! We’ll let him make the call.

This might have been the game where the man was known by just one name. It’s one thing to just gun because he was hot. In this game, all of the points were needed because the Lakers were getting blown out by about 20 points in the 3rd quarter.

Before the game, it could be argued that Mamba Mentality was a cool marketing tool or something Kobe just made up. After that game, it became another sports term for working hard and not giving up. The Toronto Raptors got blow torched for 81 points. The second-highest point total in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100.

Social media has given platforms to basketball casuals to edit videos for false narratives. When NBA players like Jalen Rose tells the story like this. You know Kobe was a bad man back then.

To listen to Jalen’s story, it bears quite a few observations.

• Think about an NBA team playing a box and one defense back then? That was unheard of. Even now!
• What in the world was Sam Mitchell thinking not double-teaming Bryant?
• Why did he sit Jalen Rose? Proving a point led to Bryant not playing a lick of defense. Rose was the Raptors’ best offensive player!
• Were they scared of Kobe? No hard foul? Remember Jalen Rose slid his foot under Kobe’s in the NBA Finals years earlier playing for the Indiana Pacers.
• If the Raptors had started talking trash and pissed Kobe off, he might have scored 100. Imagine giving a team 81 points without saying a word.

If this was any other season, Charles Barkley could be criticized for what he said. This was actually the only season where it would look like Kobe stopped shooting to prove a point.

Don’t forget Bryant dropped 62 points on the Mavericks earlier that season. Like in three quarters. He outscored Dallas 62-61 when his night was done.

Fast forward to the playoff series. Believe it or not, it was a very entertaining series.

Believe or not Lakers fans, this was supposed to be a Suns sweep. Kobe Bryant almost stole it! 

The Phoenix Suns were coached back then by Mike D’Antoni. This means the Suns were about offense first, second and third while defense was an option (Maybe?). After losing the first game of the series, the Lakers held Phoenix under 100 points for three straight games which were all wins. Tell the truth, you all thought the series was over after Kobe Bryant did this.

But the Suns eventually sped up the tempo and started hitting triple digits on the offensive end. Even then it shouldn’t have mattered. The Lakers had the Suns dead to rights in game 6. But Tim Thomas, a player that the Suns literally signed off the street just before the playoffs hit one of the most cold-blooded shots you will ever see in playoff history.

So much to break down in this sequence.

• Did you see that ridiculous shot Kobe Bryant made splitting the defense shooting high off the glass off the wrong foot?
• On the other end, it might have looked like bad defense but small ball killed the Lakers in that situation. Shawn Marion was “The Matrix” at that time. He could jump out of the gym. 
• Don’t blame Kwame Brown. He rotated all over the floor contesting Steve Nash and Tim Thomas.
• Finally, Tim Thomas can shoot. Always could even back to his days in Milwaukee with Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson.
• Kobe Bryant knew the Lakers blew their chance then when he slammed the ball down. Got to close the Suns out at home.

Was Kobe Bryant done in Los Angeles? History shows that he was a lot closer than most think.

The Lakers were one no trade clause away from trading Kobe Bryant

It’s no secret that Kobe Bryant wanted out of Los Angeles in 2007. It’s no secret that the Lakers were willing to deal Bryant to Chicago, one of the teams Kobe preferred to go to for these players.

Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon and Joakim Noah.

Looking back out how these players turned out years later, it’s a wonder how this deal had legs in the first place.

• Tyrus Thomas was a bust.
• Ben Gordon fell off a cliff after he got his big contract with Detroit.
• Joakim Noah was worse when he got his deal with New York.

The holdup on the deal was Bryant wanted Deng to stay in Chicago (Look this was not the Deng Lakers fan knew). Luckily, that delay in negotiations was enough for Dr. Jerry Buss to step in and convince Kobe Bryant into staying. Sure, most NBA fans knew about that deal.

How many knew that the Los Angeles Lakers were GOING to trade Kobe Bryant to the Detroit Pistons?

Well, Kobe Bryant was on the Grantland Basketball Hour with Bill Simmons and told the true story. He let it be known that the Lakers were ready to make a deal to ship him to Detroit Pistons for this package.

Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and a number of draft picks.

The only thing that stopped the deal was Kobe Bryant had a no trade clause in his contract.

Just think If that trade had gone through? Detroit would have had a squad of Bryant, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess to make another run for the NBA Finals after an Eastern Conference loss to Boston. Think LeBron’s Cleveland squad would have gotten past that crew?

Lakers Nation still cringes at the Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng contracts. Think about how bad they would be moaning at a roster of Hamilton, Prince, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum and Derek Fisher.

But as the old saying goes, “The best deals are the ones that are never made”. 

While those two deals that did not go through, Kobe’s trust and faith in Dr. Buss paid off. Eventually, the Lakers eventually completed one of the biggest highway robbery trades of all-time with the Memphis Grizzlies turning a group of youngsters and draft picks into Pau Gasol.

With Gasol in the fold, the Los Angeles Lakers took off and made it to the next three NBA Finals, which included back-to-back championships over the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics.

Both of them were. How in the world can that happen you ask? Well here it goes.

Here’s the soft shoe of what was probably told in the media. The Lakers at the seventh seed had no business taking the second seed Phoenix Suns to seven games. The Lakers gave a gallant effort but simply ran out of gas. They had already trailed 60-45 at halftime, and then-head coach Phil Jackson supported Bryant, saying that the superstar was simply following his game plan.

Why Charles Barkley was right

Man, please. Three shots? Kobe Bryant? He could have done that just getting out bed in the morning. Charles Barkley was right. Bryant let go of the rope. Argue if you want, but that year averaging the highest point total at the time since Jordan’s 37.1 points in 86-87 exposed Bryant because he was such a dominant scorer at the time. He was at the top of the list and it wasn’t even close.

Why Kobe Bryant was right!

This was simply Kobe Bryant playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers. He knew that the front office was probably cool with making the playoffs. He wasn’t. Shaq just won a title that year and the pressure of winning a title without O’Neal was everything to him.

Bryant basically forced the front office to get him some help, something that might have not happened if the Lakers had upset the Suns that year.

But they obviously got over things rather quickly.

So this is Lake Show Life’s historical look back at history. Bryant went on to be a five-time NBA champion over his 20-season career with the Lakers, apparently didn’t hold any anger or resentment over that incident. Good thing he doesn’t carry that Jordan characteristic.

In fact, Barkley said that moment became an inside joke for them.

The Lake Show Life staff would like to extend a Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers out there (Especially mine, Walter Agers! Happy Father’s Day Pops!).

Also, the staff would like to send prayers and well wishes to Ms. Vanessa Bryant and Kobe’s daughters, Capri (Just turned one, Happy Birthday!), Bianca and Natalia. This is their first Father’s Day without Kobe and Gianna and they have to deal with another reminder of their tragic loss. Please do the same.