Over the years, we have heard numerous stories about Kobe Bryant, the legendary player of the Los Angeles Lakers. He always went to great lengths to prepare himself for any challenge, often taking things to the extreme. His intense and grueling workouts, known as ‘blackout’ workouts, became famous throughout the league as Kobe pushed himself beyond his limits to become the best player he could be. Caron Butler had firsthand experience of the intensity of these workouts and witnessed Kobe’s unwavering commitment to them.

Kobe constantly encouraged his teammates, including Shaquille O’Neal, to put in the work at the gym. However, it was not uncommon to see players engaging in other activities instead of keeping up with Kobe’s rigorous training regimen. Surprisingly, Kobe knew how to have fun too, and he occasionally took advantage of that to motivate his teammates to work out with him.

In an old interview with Lewis Howes, Kobe shared a unique condition he had for teammates who invited him to go out and party in different cities. He would agree to go with them but made it clear that he would be at their doors at 5 am the next morning to take them to the gym for proper preparation before games.

He recounted, “I would tell guys, we got back-to-backs. I don’t care if we’re in Miami, I don’t care if we’re in a great city like Chicago. You can’t go out, you got to rest, right? You play on Monday and then you play on Tuesday. Guys don’t listen, right? So, a few times I said, ‘alright, we’ll all go out, we’ll go out together. I’ll drink with you. But the next morning, I’m banging on your door at 5 in the morning. Let’s go! They’d be like, ‘where are we going?’ I said, ‘I hung out with you, now you come hang out with me. This is what we do, alright? Let’s go!’ We’re at the gym, we’re working out, right? We hit the bus, we go to practice, we play that night, and they’re dead. Everybody was like, ‘lesson learned.’ If you’re gonna do that, do that, but don’t let that compromise what we’re here to do.”

Kobe always held people accountable, especially when it came to practice. He had no respect for those who didn’t put in the effort to improve and didn’t treat practice with the utmost seriousness. Allen Iverson once shared a story of how Kobe told him he was going to the gym while AI was preparing to go to the club, highlighting the stark difference in their approaches.

Tyronn Lue also compared Kobe’s work ethic with that of Michael Jordan, as both players left everything on the practice court in their pursuit of reaching the next level. If you lacked the desire to improve or showed up to practice in less than optimal conditions, Kobe would push you to your limits. It was through this relentless pursuit of greatness that Kobe became one of the greatest and most respected players of all time.