Matt Barnes lately revealed that essentially the most well-known second in his profession noticed him obtain wild dying threats, as a result of it concerned Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
Barnes turned enemy primary amongst Lakers followers after he tried to intimidate Kobe throughout a Lakers-Magic recreation within the 2009-10 season.
In the course of the recreation, Barnes was trying to move the ball to his teammate from out of bounds when Kobe got here up proper in his face to protect him.
In an try in intimidate Bryant, Barnes faked a move proper in Kobe’s face, nevertheless it backfired as a result of he didn’t even flinch.
The response by Kobe went down as one of many coldest in NBA historical past.
And the second drew some hectic reactions from Lakers followers, as Barnes recollects receiving dying threats afterwards.
“It was loopy as a result of I used to be getting tremendous dying threats after that,” Barnes mentioned on Podcast P with Paul George. “I used to be sort of the unhealthy man, the villain, no matter. However, I turned the actual villain after that s***. Folks mentioned on Twitter they’re gonna kill me. They’re gonna discover my tackle, kill my children, kill my woman. ‘Come to L.A. You higher by no means come again to L.A. We gonna kill you.’ You’ll be able to’t f*** with Kobe. Them eses in L.A. don’t play in regards to the Lakers and [Los Angeles] Dodgers and significantly Kobe. Bro, I received so many dying threats. I child you not.”
Regardless of the excessive threats from Lakers followers, the second led to Barnes truly teaming up with Kobe and donning the purple and gold.
After that season, Kobe referred to as him up and requested him to the be part of, Barnes revealed in a 2022 interview.
“He simply talked to me,” he mentioned on The Pat McAfee Show. “He favored the way in which I performed, how laborious I performed. The depth I performed with. He advised me actually like, ‘Anybody loopy to f**ok with me is loopy sufficient to play with me. Do you wish to be a Laker?’…Perhaps three or 4 days after he requested me that query, I used to be a Laker.”
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