Lakers star Kobe Bryant was hazed by Lakers legends that include the league's all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, said former teammate Cedric Ceballos who recalled how they treated the young Bryant when he entered the league as a rookie straight out of high school.
TMZ Sports reports that Bryant did go through the traditional initiation rites imposed by veterans on rookies, and that in 1996-97 he had to do crazy things as ordered by his teammates and even retired Lakers players.
Ceballos, who was the starting small forward for the Lakers when Bryant joined the team in 1996, shared interesting stories on how they treated the Black Mamba back then.
"We'd make him chase balls into the stands of the huge arenas, or take bags off the plane in the freezing cold. Or we'd say, 'I need coffee from Starbucks and donuts from Krispy Kreme' -- and it'd be 2 am in a town we just arrived in," he told TMZ.com
Ceballos also remembers shooting guard Eddie Jones, whom Bryant eventually replaced as the Lakers' main gunner from the outside, would ask the 18-year old phenom back then to bring him Gatorade right before every game.
What was more intriguing was how Kobe was 'initiated' by other Lakers legends like Jabbar, as told by Ceballos. "Even the veterans who are retired ... James Worthy, Kareem, Wilt Chamberlain ... all those guys came down to give him a little bit of rookie hazing, knowing that he was going to be the great player he is."
To his credit, Bryant was all sport about the initiation. Ceballos said that Bryant understood everything about it, and he cannot recall any instance that the Black Mamba resisted orders from his 'seniors.'
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