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- LeBron James once yelled at Coach K to “fix” Kobe Bryant at the Olympics.
- James had seen enough from Bryant during a particular game in the 2008 Summer Games.
- Be sure to check out more sports stories at BroBible here.
LeBron James wasn’t going to let Kobe Bryant get away with taking poor shots at the 2008 Olympics and he let head coach Mike Krzyzewski know it.
According to an excerpt from Ian O’Connor’s new book “Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski” James shouted at Coach K to “fix that motherf–ker.” That “motherf–ker” was none other than Kobe Bryant.
Maybe the wildest part of the story is the fact that James’ outburst didn’t even come during an actual game during the 2008 Summer Games, it happened during an exhibition leading up to the Olympics.
Given the fact that Team USA was coming off of a disastrous performance in the 2004 Summer Games, James’ critique on Kobe’s game makes a bit more sense.
“Everyone knew it,” a Team USA staffer says in the book. “They know when another player is being selfish. Players can police themselves, but in this instance, as LeBron was coming out of the game, he said to Mike, ‘Yo, Coach, you’d better fix that motherf–ker,’ as he walked by. He was talking about Kobe.”
Coach K Got The Message To Kobe
Coach K listened to James. The following morning he asked Kobe to sit down for a private meeting and he showed him clips of the low-percentage shots he was taking and missing.
“Bryant just looked right at him and said, ‘I got it, Coach. I got it. Don’t worry about it. Sorry about that,’” a team source told O’Connor for the book.
Team USA went on to win gold in the 2008 Summer Games beating Spain 118-107 in the gold medal game. Bryant averaged 15 points during the American’s run toward gold while James averaged 15.5 points per contest.