Phil Jackson Created a Feud With Kobe Bryant Over This Comment

Phil Jackson revealed comments he made about Kobe Bryant that strained the two men's relationship for years on end. 

Jackson is one of the biggest winners in NBA history. He won two NBA championships during his playing career and then coached the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers to 11 titles. He retired from coaching in 2010 after a disastrous stint with the New York Knicks. 

The coach was especially known for the methods he used to motivate players. While it did not work on all of his stars, he had incredible success with Bryant and Michael Jordan. 

That doesn't mean that things always worked out perfectly. In a 2005 book, Jackson wrote about a blowout he had with the Black Mamba:

"To be completely fair, there were a couple things I did over the years to alienate Kobe. The most glaring example was the interview I gave in 2001 to Rick Telander, a writer I knew in Chicago. Rick asked if I believed Kobe was the heir apparent to Michael Jordan. Assuming, naively in retrospect, that a conversation after the official interview was off the record, I mentioned to Rick that I had been told that in high school Kobe 'sabotaged' games to keep them close enough for him to dominate at the end. Needless to say, the quotes appeared verbatim in Rick's story, sparking a major uproar. Kobe has never forgiven me…"

The coach would not feud with his star player forever and he says that they would eventually make up. Still, the story shows just how competitive Bryant was about the game.