From Shaq to Smush Parker, former teammates airing out their feuds with Kobe Bryant has become somewhat of a regular occurrence. On Tuesday it was Samaki Walker’s turn.
Walker, who played with Kobe on the Lakers in 2001-02 and 2002-03, went on CBSSports’ Brown and Scoop podcast to share a wild story of Kobe punching him in the face over a $100 debt back in February of 2002.
It started with a Lakers team half-court shooting contest in which the winner gets $100 from every other participant. Here’s how Walker described the incident on the podcast (which is worth a listen in full):
“We got into it. I’m still figuring it out to this day. Real talk, it was one of the craziest, most immature situations because the situation from what I understand was over 100 bucks. … He won the half-court contest and the rule is…you get 48 hours to pay the $100. There wasn’t even 48 hours. Kobe comes to me on the bus and asked me where his 100 bucks are and believe it or not, out of all the people he chose me, which still, to this day, is puzzling.
“I told him listen we were going to shootaround at the time, man I don’t have no 100 bucks on me right now…first of all why are you coming after me for 100 bucks? With that being said, I put my earphones back on and once I put my earphones back on, the most amazing thing happened.
“Kobe, he sucker punched me. … Real talk, all hell broke loose. First of all I’m totally shocked that this man chose me to put his hands on, and I’m still not totally understanding why. This was over 100 bucks. It couldn’t have been. With that being said, the street came out in me, and I said Phil, stop the bus. Phil looks at me crazy like what the hell is going on. And I told him, look this man just put his hands on me. You need to stop this bus …. So Phil stops the bus, so I said, ‘Hey man step off the bus.’ Well unfortunately he didn’t want to step off the bus because he knew what was going to happen next.
The story goes on. Walker said he never made it to practice because the team wouldn’t let him anywhere near Kobe. Still mad, the forward waited for Kobe before the Lakers’ next game, where Shaquille O’Neal’s bodyguard Jerome told him Kobe wanted to talk to him. Jerome then talked Walker out of picking a fight with Kobe, which Walker says probably kept him employed by the Lakers longer than he would have been had he beat up the team’s star player.
After one of the podcast hosts asked Walker to describe the punch itself, the former forward elaborated:
“It was a sucker punch. Out of nowhere. I’m sitting down on the bus, literally sitting down on the bus. And (inaudible) this man is crazy. First of all, he don’t know who he’s f—ing with. Second of all, what in the hell could this possible be about.”
As Walker points out, Kobe had a lot going on during the time period, during which he was estranged from his parents over their disapproval of his marriage. Walker said he cut Bryant some slack given what he was going through in his personal life.
Though the incident was reported at the time, with Phil Jackson describing it as “juvenile stuff,” this is the first time the story has come out in full. We’ll see if Kobe — usually one to speak his feelings freely — has his own side of the story.
Here’s the full podcast with Walker.
