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DeMar DeRozan remembers the time Kobe Bryant got mad at him for wearing Jordans instead of Kobes

Kobe Bryant wasn’t thrilled when DeMar DeRozan stopped wearing Kobes and switched to Jordans for one of their matchups.

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Los Angeles Lakers v Toronto Raptors Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

DeMar DeRozan and Kobe Bryant always seemed to have a special relationship. DeRozan was the player Bryant chose to debut new editions of his signature shoe after he retired, and DeRozan — a Southern California native — has never been shy about admitting how much he idolized Bryant.

But that doesn’t mean their relationship ever kept Bryant from getting irritated with DeRozan. The San Antonio Spurs guard recalled one hilarious moment his shoe choice sparked Bryant’s ire during a recent appearance on Instagram Live:

“It’s different now, but I remember my first couple years in the league, if you played against a person, you couldn’t wear their shoes... I always wore Kobes, bro, but whenever we played the Lakers, I didn’t wear them. So there was one game we were playing the Lakers in Toronto, and I said ‘man, f--- that, he ain’t about to kill us and I got his shoes on’ ... So I wore some Jordan 10s. As soon as he walked on the court, he was mad as a motherf---er... He said ‘this is what you on? That’s what you’re doing?’ ... I said ‘my bad bro, I got you, I got you.’”

Here’s the video if you want to watch it:

If there is anything we’ve learned about Bryant over the last few months, it’s that he was incredibly particular about who should wear his signature shoe. He’d throw his teammates’ pairs away when they didn’t play up to his standards, and get upset with his opponents when they took them off.

It’s almost like the guy was an incredibly particular perfectionist who looked for any perceived slight to use as motivation. Or something like that, at least.

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