Ever the team player, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant returned to practice for the first time in a month on Thursday and ripped his teammates, calling some of them "soft."
ESPN Los Angeles reports that there was a heated exchange between Bryant and Nick Young during a 5-on-5 scrimmage and afterward Bryant laid into his teammates.
"You m-----f------ are soft like Charmin in this m-----f-----. G-d damn, is this the type of s--- that's going on in these practices? Now I see why we've lost 20 f---ing games. We're soft like Charmin. We're soft like s---," Bryant said per the publication.
The barbs from Bryan prompted Charmin, a toilet paper brand, to churn up this clever response on Twitter:
It's been a rough start to the season for Bryant and the Lakers in the first campaign under Byron Scott as the team has stumbled to a 6-16 record and sits in fifth place in the Pacific Division. Los Angeles is coming off of a season where it finished a franchise-worst 27-55 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2005. Following the dreadful injury-plagued season in which Bryant only played six games, then-coach Mike D'Antoni opted to resign from his post.
The site also notes that Bryant got into an exchange with Jeremy Lin during the practice as well.
"This m-----f----- don't got s---. He ain't got s--- right now. Shoot! Shoot!" Bryant said to Lin.
After he missed a shot, Bryant added: "I talked his a-- right into that bulls---. I talked his a-- right into that bulls---."
Bryant, who has been held out of most practices this season in order to keep his legs fresh, said Thursday's display was just business as usual.
"No, I was just being myself," Bryant said. "I don't know if it helps them, but it obviously raises the intensity level. It was a tough practice for them ... It's really good for Nick, aside from the fun of bantering back and forth and the trash talk, just fundamentally some of the techniques and things that I use. He gets a chance to really see up close those little tricks."
The Lakers will get to see if all the practice paid off when they visit the Spurs (16-6) Friday night in San Antonio.
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