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“My first two to three years have been a nightmare”: why did Kobe Bryant hate his early years in the NBA?

When we look back at Kobe Bryant’s magnificent career, many would not be able to reflect on his difficult days. But Mamba was unsure of the time he struggled in his early years in the NBA. He said: “If I knew this shit would be like this, I would have gone to school.”

Joined the league, his first manager was Del Harris. Kobe was only 17 when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996. He was a boy who gained recognition from the start while playing for Lower Merion High School. He earned the Naismith High School Player of the Year in his senior college days. This speaks a lot about the level of his game.

Entering the championship was a “difficult” phase, as Kobe likes to describe it. He has never liked to be without games throughout his career and that’s exactly what happened in the first two years.

Kobe Bryant was really pissed off sitting on the bench

“I felt like my coach, Del Harris at the time was trying to make sure he wasn’t showing favoritism for the kid. And as a result, he moved completely in the opposite direction and doing things that weren’t really right. “ he said on the podcast of “All The Smoke”. “I mean don’t play, just like my first two or three years have been a nightmare.”

An entire generation saw Kobe Bryant win five championships and an MVP title in 2008. But few people know about his difficult time sitting on the bench in the early years. His peers like Allen Iverson and Ray Allen played for about 30 minutes at the time.

“I sat there glued to the bench and I’m really pissed off and I thought I should go to college. This was the hardest part ” He mentioned.

Yes, he would have preferred college at that point because it was going too well there. He was a second known student at that time and that popularity never ran out.

In the years to come, Kobe was a model of perseverance and hard work. His performances and records spoke of what a fantastic player turned out to be.

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