In a recent interview with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Kobe Bryant praised this year’s LA Clippers’ team, saying they aren’t scared of anything.
LA Clippers’ fans might have a reason to finally love Kobe Bryant. The future Hall of Famer appeared on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson‘s podcast, All the Smoke, yesterday to talk his time in the NBA his life post-career, coaching his daughter and more.
At the end of the show, Barnes made sure to ask Kobe what he thought of this current iteration of the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe was impressed with what he’s seen, especially the size and noted that he thought staying healthy would be their biggest concern.
More notably though, Kobe said that he does believe the West will end up with both LA teams facing off against each other and that he likes the Clippers. You can check out his comments about both teams (along with the full interview) below.
Kobe says that the Clippers are “a well put together team”. He also notes that the team has “dogs that ain’t scared of nothing.”
It’s no secret who Kobe would pull for in a seven-game Battle of LA series, but it is pretty cool that he acknowledges just how the Clippers are built. Those “dogs” he references are most likely Patrick Beverley and Montrezl Harrell. I’m sure both Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson have no qualms with that statement, but it would have been cool for them to dig a little deeper into the topic. I also found it interesting that although Kobe said the West would come down to those two, he never actually said he believed the Lakers would be the triumphant team.
While we probably won’t ever catch Kobe saying the Clippers are better than the Lakers (and who can blame him?), the acknowledgment is something. So far this year, the Clippers are 2-0 versus the Lakers with two games remaining, but all that matters is who is able to represent the Western Conference at the end of the season.