Former NBA journeyman Smush Parker is probably familiar to most NBA fans as one of Kobe Bryant's teammates during his winless years with the Los Angeles Lakers. He's seemingly making a return to the game, but he's rejoining in a different capacity.

The retired NBA player revealed that he is taking steps to become an accredited NBA referee. If he manages to complete his goal, he will be the first ex-player to become an official since Haywoode Workman.

He talked about how his peers decided to stay in the game after their playing days are over. The 38-year-old seems like the only one among his peers who considered coaching.

Per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:

“I think I was the only one,” he says. “For four years now I had it in my head that I was going to become an official.”

He also touched on how Kobe Bryant keeps on saying mean things about him. Instead of being disappointed by his comments, he took a nonchalant approach to it.

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“Things that I said, I was young, I put it out there, I shouldn’t have,” Parker says. “But Kobe still has things to say about me. At this point, I really think that Kobe loves me with how much he talks about me.”

He said in a 2009 interview that Kobe was a bad teammate, and the Black Mamba didn't take to it kindly. The fact that he keeps getting mentioned is a testament to how long Kobe holds his grudges.

There's nothing Smush can do at this point. He can only shrug it off and keep on aiming for his dreams of becoming an NBA referee. He hopes Kobe will forgive him by then.