Since Kobe Bryant announced his retirement from the NBA earlier this season many of the people around the league have gotten nostalgic about his greatest moments. Many of the stories being told about Kobe have been positive including how competitive he is and how hard he works. Former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Samaki Walker though, did not tell a positive story about Bryant when he was on Brown and Scoop on CBS Radio's Play It as he said Bryant punched him over a $100 gambling debt.
Walker called the punch Kobe threw at him back in 2002 a "sucker punch" and said it was over $100 which, to a professional athlete, especially one of Kobe's stature, is nothing. Kobe punching Walker in the face almost led to a nuclear war between the two players, according to TMZ Sports.
Bryant reportedly had won a half-court shot game that the team played regularly where every player throws in $100 and the player who makes the shot takes all of the winnings. Walker apparently did not pay in a timely enough manner for Bryant and because of it he was punched on the team bus. Kobe first approached Walker asking him for the money but Walker said he would pay him later and that's when Kobe threw said sucker punch.
Walker says that eventually Shaquille O'Neal, also on the Lakers at that time, got his bodyguard to tell Kobe to apologize to Walker. Kobe obliged by apologizing to Walker but he still seems pretty heated about the whole incident. Kobe has not commented on the fact that this story is coming out now but this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, besides the fact that it was over $100. Kobe is known for being extremely hard on teammates and isn't exactly liked by all of them as there were reports that Kobe once made a teammate cry.
Walker was one of Kobe's more obscure teammates with the Lakers as he spent just two seasons with the team and wasn't a big contributor. Walker was a journeyman who played in the league for 10 seasons with six different teams but he is not among those people that will remember Kobe very fondly as he is set to retire after a Hall of Fame career.
