There weren't many people who would wave off Kobe Bryant in crunch time. Jeremy Lin tried it once, and even though his shot went in, the damage had been done.
From the moment the Los Angeles Lakers traded away Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat in 2004, Bryant was the undeniable face of their franchise. He dominated the league for years and showed no signs of slowing down. When Bryant tore his Achilles on April 12, 2013, then suffered a lateral tibial plateau fracture a season later, most thought it was the end of his basketball career. But Kobe being Kobe, was determined to prove the doubters wrong.
In the 2014-2015 season, Jeremy Lin signed with the Lakers at arguably the worst time. The team was coming off a season of winning only 27 games and carried lofty expectations heading into the season. From the start, the pairing seemed like a match made in heaven. Bryant and Lin often watched film and texted each other before games.
The downfall of Jeremy Lin and Kobe Bryant's tenure as teammates
After a rough start to the season, losing their first two games, Lin wanted to try something new. In their third game of the year against the Los Angeles Clippers, tied ball game with under four minutes left, Lin did the unthinkable. He waved off Bryant instead of giving him an elbow iso against the smaller Chris Paul and asked for a screen. Bryant obliged, Lin made a three to give them the lead, everything should be fine, right?
The Lakers ended up losing that game by seven points and the two teammates never spoke to each other for four months. Lin later revealed when he appeared on an episode of the All The Smoke Podcast what led to the incident and his four-month beef with Bryant:
“We would be texting at three or four in the morning, arguing, conflicting with each other,” Lin said.
“It got to the point, I told him I’m ok with anything as long as you talk to me like a man in terms of don’t talk down to me like a boy talk to me like a man and respect me. So, for me in that situation, as we’re going back and forth, I finally had enough that’s why I waived him off that one time,” Lin continued.
The beef fizzled out when Lin signed with the Hornets the next season. In their first game against each other, Lin said they walked up to each other like nothing ever happened and Kobe Bryant continued to mentor Lin for the rest of his career.
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