UPDATE: Someone from Kobe Bryant's team reached out to us today to tell us that Kobe didn't actually start his own camp until 2007. That means that Vince Staples—who is 21—more than likely attended a camp run by either adidas or the Lakers sometime around 2004. Assuming that's true, it would explain why Kobe wasn't more active in that particular camp.
From what we've seen in recent years, Kobe Bryant is typically pretty active when it comes to his summer basketball camps. We've seen him play campers 1-on-1, and he doesn't seem like the type of guy who simply slaps his name on a camp, collects a bunch of checks, delivers a generic pep talk, and then disappears. But according to rapper Vince Staples, that's exactly what Kobe did the time Staples' mom paid for him to go to a Kobe camp.
During an interview with REAL 92.3 yesterday, the Long Beach, Calif. native was asked why he supports the Clippers instead of the Lakers. And he revealed that it stems from an incident involving Kobe that took place when he was much younger.
"We was real young, like in the fourth or fifth grade," he said. "My mama had paid a gang of money for the Kobe Bryant camp. So [we] sitting over here…[Kobe] had three bodyguards and he's sitting down…He stand up like, 'Yeah, you know, I'm Kobe Bryant, I want to thank everyone for coming out. You work hard enough, you can get to where I'm at or close to what I'm doing, so you know, just work hard.' And he just walked away and we never seen him again. We were up there for a week waiting for Kobe to pop back up."
In fairness to Kobe, maybe that week was an anomaly. Maybe he had a really pressing issue that forced him to skip the camp. But if that was the case, couldn't he have offered up a refund or something? Because if he was charging kids "a gang of money" like Staples says, the least he could have done was show up at his own camp for more than a few minutes.
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.
[via Hip Hop Wired]
