There is no denying that Jeremy Lin's epic run with the New York Knicks during the Linsanity days was one of the most unforgettable series of games for a single player over the past decade or so. Lin took the basketball world by storm and apparently, he nearly also destroyed Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant when Lin's Knicks hosted the Black Mamba and his Lakers in Madison Square Garden.

Former Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni recently guested on JJ Redick's The Old Man & The Three podcast and one of the most hilarious stories he told was about how Lin prepared what would have been a mic-dropping one-liner against Kobe. This was supposed to be Lin's response to the Lakers superstar who said that he didn't even know who Lin was days before they faced the Knicks in MSG. True enough, Lin dominated the Lakers in epic fashion and he nearly dropped the bomb on Bryant after their encounter:

“Jeremy had this thing planned that he was going to say, ‘Well, I guess Kobe knows who’s my name is now.' He didn’t have the balls, guts to do that. He punted. He punted, but he really wanted to say that,” D'Antoni said.

What a moment of vindication that would have been for Lin, who apparently backed out at the last minute. That's how much respect and fear he had towards the Lakers icon. I'm also willing to bet that Kobe would have had a fiery comeback had Lin decided to unleash his premeditated smack talk.