The incessant tension between Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and defensive stud Raja Bell in the mid-2000's was one of the most heated rivalries of that era. As it turns out, their on-court disputes inevitably spilled over to life outside basketball.

These two faced each other several times each season, and perhaps the most memorable was during Bell's time with the Phoenix Suns. As Bell admitted himself, he actually felt a genuine loathing towards Bryant.

“We traded a lot of elbows and a lot of smack-talking and whatnot, but some of my favorite memories are when I go back and we were skewing through the media at that time,” Bell told Drew Ruiz of HoopsHype. “I don’t know how Kobe felt, but I genuinely hated the cat at that time. I really didn’t like him.”

Bell went on to share how the bitter rivalry slowly turned into a friendship built on the foundation of mutual respect between two of the most intense competitors in the game.

“Then the coolest part about it for me was once the time had passed and I saw him the next time, we started to develop a little bit of respect,” he explained. “There was a relationship that started to develop. We never became besties or anything like that, but there was a time when I’d reach out and see if he needed anything or somewhere to be for Thanksgiving if they were in town or I’d ask about his family and just check in. I felt that was pretty cool. That was my favorite part about that whole thing. There seemed to be a respect level that we got to and when you can say you did that with one of the best players of all time that’s pretty cool for me.”

This just goes to show that sometimes, the fiercest of rivalries actually stem from mutual admiration. Perhaps in 10 years' time, we will also read about a similar development between the relationship of Draymond Green and Tristan Thompson? Then again, maybe not.