Kobe Bryant‘s cold, locked-in demeanor on the court is often attributed to his performance, something closer to method acting than a reflection of who he truly was.
However, Kevin Sanchez, who knew the late Los Angeles Lakers superstar before the NBA lights, sees it differently. To him, Bryant carried the same cold distance off the court and did not make an effort to look out for friends and family.
“This is a 100 percent true story. I’m thinking he’s gonna look out. I’m fu—ed up out here, struggling, but got back dibbling and dabbling on the streets, trying to get my sh-t in order,” Sanchez said on “Blood on the Razor Wire TV.”
“So, Lower Meron was opening up a gym. This is when I found out he was a piece of sh-t… I waited in the rain. They wasn’t letting nobody in, there wasn’t no more tickets, so I couldn’t get in there,” he added.
Kobe did not follow through on his promise
Sanchez waited outside for hours in cold, freezing temperatures for Bryant. When he finally got the chance to talk to him, Kevin asked his old friend for help.
“We were super tight. There’s no way he shouldn’t do this for me. He said, ‘Oh yeah, that’ll be no problem. No problem,'” he recalled.
Sanchez said the basketball superstar promised him a way out. Bryant gave him his number, so that filled Sanchez with hope. He couldn’t be more wrong.
“He leave. I go back to my house and the next day, I call. It’s an assistant dude’s phone number, it’s not even him. The assistant dude never get him on the phone. I could never get to him,” said Sanchez.
According to Sanchez, this is where everything started to make sense. Kevin spoke to Kobe’s cousin and discovered that the basketball icon never offered assistance to any of his relatives.
“His cousin came to. He said, ‘Kev, let me tell you something about this guy. Dude is a certified piece of sh-t.’ That’s when he started running everything down. The man never did nothing for nobody in his family,” Sanchez said.
The reason why Kobe held out help
Sanchez and Bryant forged a close relationship over basketball and rap. They formed a rap group together called” Cheizaw” and were practically brothers. Kevin was Kobe’s rap mentor of sorts, teaching him the art of lyricism and the importance of breath control when spitting bars.
But despite their bond, fans pushed back against Sanchez’s expression of disdain.
Bryant, who had already been dead for four years when Sanchez did the interview, had no obligation to him. As one X user opined, Kevin asked for a handout without explicitly calling it a handout and was upset that he didn’t receive it.
Situations like this are precisely why Bryant stopped giving material things to people close to him, including family and friends.
In an article penned by Kobe on The Players’ Tribune called “Letter to my Younger Self,” Bryant explained his stance on matters like these.
“Purely giving material things to your siblings and friends may appear to be the right decision. You love them, and they were always there for you growing up, so it’s only right that they should share in your success and all that comes with it. So you buy them a car, a big house, pay all of their bills. You want them to live a beautiful, comfortable life, right?” Kobe asked.
“But the day will come when you realize that as much as you believed you were doing the right thing, you were actually holding them back,” he added.
To Bryant, the best things he could give to his loved ones are “growth and independence.” His message, which Sanchez clearly failed to see, cut against the idea that success obligates you to carry everyone with you. Kobe learned from experience that the more he gave, people leaned on him instead of themselves.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 14, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.