NBA: Kobe Bryant Needed 5 Years To Prove Ray Allen Wrong

It took Kobe Bryant 5 seasons to finally prove Ray Allen was wrong about his claim.

Aside from being drafted at the same time, Allen and Bryant followed quite similar career trajectories. Bryant exploded to superstardom after a few years and Allen went on to become the new face of Milwaukee Bucks.

In 2003, Allen was traded to the Seattle Supersonics. A year later, Allen made a bold comment about Bryant which fueled the beef that will scar their relationship for years.

Shortly after Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers co-star Shaquille O’Neal left the team, Seattle Press asked Allen about his rival’s new status as “King of Los Angeles." Surprisingly, Allen blasted Bryant and predicted that as the lone superstar in LA, Bryant will become more selfish and will eventually ask for a trade if things don’t work out well without “Shaq.”

“He’s going to be very selfish,” Allen said of Bryant.

“And he feels like he needs to show this league and the people in this country that he is better without Shaq. He can win championships without Shaq. So offensively, he’s going to jump out and say, ‘I can average 30 points. I can still carry the load on this team’,” Allen added.

The said rant didn’t go unnoticed as reports claimed that Bryant called Allen and told him “I’m going to bust you’re a--.” Bryant was so furious about Allen’s claim and even once noted that “don’t even put him and Allen in the same breath” as all hell will break lose.

After that, the Allen-Bryant beef had officially started. Both superstars continued to shine with their respective teams. Allen continued to improve his stats and eventually recorded his highest average in points per game in 2006-07 season (26.4). In the same season, Bryant had the best scoring game of his career when he scored a whopping 81 points against Toronto Raptors.

In 2007, Allen was shipped to Boston and together with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, the Celtics formed the so-called “Big 3.” During his first season with the C’s, Allen immediately helped the team reach the NBA Finals. Bryant on the other hand, struggled to win games with the Lakers but found new hope in 2007-08 season.

Once again, Allen and Bryant faced each other but this time, Bryant was on his way to prove Allen wrong as his Lakers are playing the Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals.

The Celtics beat the Lakers and Allen had the last laugh. Bryant bounced back the following year and finally won his first NBA championship without O’Neal. He also led the Lakers to the finals in 2010 and won back-to-back titles. During the 2010 NBA Finals, Bryant finally had his revenge on Allen as the Lakers defeated the Celtics in an epic seven-game duel.