Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher Entered The NBA In 1996 With Similar Chips On Shoulder

Derek Fisher says he and Kobe Bryant had something to prove in their rookie seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers

Former Los Angeles Lakers greats Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher had a lot in common when they entered the NBA in 1996. 

Fisher said both felt like they had something to prove because of their paths to the league. Bryant was the first backcourt player to enter the draft out of high school while Fisher was an unknown coming out of Arkansas-Little Rock. 

"Our relationship just kind of began on the foundation of outworking everybody else," Fisher said. "We both had different things to prove for different reasons. We both had that approach. Coming in a lot of people didn't, believe in him and what he was capable of doing. He always that chip on his shoulder. For me coming in, I was a no-name small-school guy nobody ever heard of and I had a chip on my shoulder." 

At first, Fisher was skeptical of Bryant because it was so rare for high school players to skip college for the NBA. He followed the lead of Kevin Garnett, who made the leap the previous year. 

"I had no idea who Kobe was before the draft that year," Fisher said. "I didn't study high school basketball. I had been in college for four years. I started hearing about Kobe as the draft was approaching. In my mind, it still didn't make sense to me that a high school player was really ready to come and play in the NBA with these grown men." 

It only took a few weeks for Fisher to realize Bryant was built differently. 

Fisher said, "Once we actually got a chance to really start spending time together, practicing together, working out together, then I kind of started to see, `Ok, this dude is really advanced compared to like what I understood high school basketball to be." 

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