Gilbert Arenas Says Kobe Bryant Trained By Taking 500 Shots As If He Was Defended By Raja Bell

Gilbert Arenas Says Kobe Bryant Trained By Taking 500 Shots As If He Was Defended By Raja Bell

‘The repetition, the consistency, is what was different than anyone else was doing,’ Arenas said of watching the late Lakers legend practice

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Kari Anderson

Gilbert Arenas (left) played for the Washington Wizards from 2003 to 2010, and harbored a lot of respect for Kobe Bryant, even as his opponent. G Fiume/Getty Images

With the four-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s death on Friday, teammates and opponents are again recognizing the strength and discipline that was present in the late Los Angeles Lakers legend’s “Mamba mentality.”

Former Washington Wizards guard Gil Arenas shared a story of Bryant’s commitment to improving his game in an episode of Podcast P with Paul George earlier this week.

Arenas, who played more than a decade in the NBA and played against Bryant several times, said that he was always impressed by the intensity of Bryant’s workouts, and that he always quickly humbled his own efforts.

“With Kobe, we think we know how to work out until we see [him] working out,” Arenas said.

Arenas said that when the Wizards played the Lakers, he would come to the arena early to find Bryant working out with patience and repetition, working on the same shot over and over again.

“500. Same spot. Same movement. Hard as f—,” Arenas said.

But that wasn’t all: Part of Bryant’s routine included a trainer who would defend him with the intensity of the toughest defender Bryant knew — which, per Arenas, was former Phoenix Suns guard Raja Bell.

“There was one time where he tried to fire his trainer because the trainer wasn’t fouling him as hard as Raja Bell would,” Arenas said.

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Bell and Bryant had a rivalry over the years, especially when Bell was with the Suns. In one infamous incident, Bell was ejected in a first-round game in the 2006 playoffs after a hard foul against Bryant, which Bell said was in retaliation for an elbow to the jaw earlier in the game.

Arenas joked that he was initially confused by the training request, since the Lakers wouldn’t be playing the Suns until the next month.

“But that’s where his intensity (was). The hardest defender that defended him, that’s how he trained,” he said. “That’s how he took 500 shots: going up, someone’s coming down (and) hitting him, he’s still gotta put it up.”

Arenas said that he was impressed by how seriously Bryant took the practice.

“I’m sitting here like, ‘Yo, this is crazy,'” he said. “The repetition, the consistency, planted in real time, is what was different than anyone else was doing. Going through that motion for real. None of that lollygagging, for real.”

This mentality served Bryant well in his years in the NBA, earning five NBA championships, two Finals MVPs, one regular-season MVP and 18 All-Star honors in his 21-year career. He spent his entire career with the Lakers, before retiring in 2016. He died on January 26, 2020, at the age of 41.