Smush Parker Discusses Kobe Bryant Not Speaking To Him For Two Years While They Were Teammates

Former Los Angeles Lakers player William Henry “Smush” Parker was recently on a podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out” and discussed the interactions with Kobe Bryant who let it be known many times of his disdain for Smush while they were teammates. Smush talks to Pablo and expresses the hatred that Kobe had for him.

Smush and Kobe played for two years and Smush stated that Kobe never spoke to him, although he was the team’s starting guard. They even had their lockers side by side and it still didn’t merit any discussions between the men.

At one point, it was widely reported that Kobe referred to Smush as “the worst.” He even lamented that Smush “shouldn’t have been in the NBA and that the Lakers, at that time, “were too cheap to pay for a point guard. We let him walk on.”

Pablo brought that conversation up to Smush and he replied, “The man never spoke to me. I wasn’t the 12th man on the bench. I wasn’t the call-up from the G League who was just filling a roster spot. I started with this man. I was his co-worker. Like we shared a cubicle side-by-side. How do you do that for two seasons and never hold a conversation?”

It’s been reported in the past that Kobe had no love for Smush, who stated that he is now trying to become an NBA referee. He brings up a time when he tried to stir up a conversation with Kobe and was shut down immediately.

“He looked at me, honestly, looked at me and said, ‘You can’t talk to me, you need more accolades under your belt before you come talk to me,'” Smush remembers about that moment. “He was dead serious.

“So that set the tone. Never spoke to him again, or tried to, for two years—as the starting point guard.”

Smush Parker explains his side of his feud with Kobe Bryant:

“The man never spoke to me. … I started with this man, I was his co-worker. Like we shared a cubicle side-by-side. How do you do that for two seasons and never hold a conversation? … I’m not even going to get to… pic.twitter.com/3mnazvKPoA

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) December 19, 2023