Kobe Bryant began testing himself and more than holding his own against NBA competition as a teenager, so one can only imagine what he did against college players.
The actor Jaleel White tells the story of a young Kobe destroying members of the UCLA Bruins hoops team shortly after moving to L.A. when the Lakers drafted him as a 17-year-old.
That Bruins squad featured the likes of Tyus Edney, Toby Bailey, Cameron Dollar and the O’Bannon brothers.
Per TMZ:
“I was attending UCLA when Kobe moved from Philadelphia to L.A.,” White said.
“So, he used to hang out at UCLA a lot and I would watch him play our UCLA basketball team … and I’m telling you — probably the greatest pickup games I’ve ever seen in my life!
“I watched him destroy young men’s dreams at 17 … and we had just won a ’95 championship that year so we had a lot of guys on the team that were pretty cocky.
“He wanted to just sh*t on anybody who thought they could play basketball in the city and that’s what he did!”
