Kobe Bryant once made a teammate cry, more quotes from 'Kobe: Unplugged'

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant sate down with reporter Jemele Hill to discuss a variety of topics Saturday night for "Kobe: Unplugged", part of BET's "Genius Talks" series from the BET Experience this weekend. The always unfiltered Bryant told a few stories, but none topped his reveal that he once made a teammate cry. Despite pressure from Hill and the audience, Kobe would not reveal the player's name, but did say that it was a European player who most would not remember.

What did he say to the teammate to make them cry? "I told him he may want to reconsider his life purpose", Bryant said in reference to the anonymous teammate's lacking talent, adding that it was a statement that sounded worse when he said it than he intended to. Just because Kobe would not reveal a name however cannot keep us from doing a little investigating of our own. According to Silver Screen and Roll's own Ben Rosales (via Basketball Reference), our two possibilities (given the time-frame Kobe mentioned, are Lakers legend Slava Medvedenko and the little known Soumaila Samake, so if the story is true we have our candidates.

Bryant also had this to say when Hill asked him if he was a good friend:

"Friends can come and go but banners hang forever." Most Kobe quote ever

— Jacob Rude (@JacobRude) June 28, 2015

Which is basically simultaneously a Nike advertisement and the most Kobe Bryant quote ever.

Some other great Kobe quotes from the interview included stories about his fear of bees, his describing his childhood as "the only black kid in Italy", and his response of "You gotta retire sometime! I'm not Benjamin Button!" to Hill's query on whether or not this would be his last season.

While Bryant is right about everyone needing to retire sometime, careers come and go, but Kobe's quotability lasts forever.