Most epic on-court trash talk moments caught on camera
Kobe Bryant
© Gary A. Vasquez - USA TODAY Sports
We have heard all the epic trash-talking moments featuring our favorite players. Some of them were narrated by an observer or a primary character in the event. These stories have given us entertainment. But in this day and age, what counts as top-tier entertainment is video. And there are a few skeptics who say that if there’s no video, then it didn’t happen. To please these doubters, here are some of the most epic on-court trash talk moments in NBA history caught on camera.
Paul Pierce vs Al Harrington
This epic banter between Paul Pierce and Al Harrington is the outlier in this list. As a disclaimer, the other plays in this article occurred at the free-throw line where the game clock is paused, and the pace has slowed down. The exact words thrown between Piece and Harrington are unknown at this point. But it’s pretty obvious that they were jawing at it. Harrington even demanded to guard Pierce by himself. Much props to him for taking the challenge. But he couldn’t handle the Truth. No one can.
“This one’s for you baby!” - Michael Jordan
This one’s tender compared to other Michael Jordan trash talk stories we’ve heard. We’ve heard narratives of Jordan telling his defender he’ll drop 50 on his face. Even his teammates weren’t excluded from Jordan’s mind games. Whatever the case may be, this is a case of Jordan hushing his foe through simple action. In a later interview, Mutombo revealed that he was trying to play some mind games on Jordan. The GOAT then responded by offering the blind free throw to the legendary shot-blocker. Interestingly, this was not the only time Jordan closed his eyes in the charity stripe. He tried it several times in his career, proving that he practiced this shot.
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“I bet I make this b***h” - Kobe Bryant
Like his idol, Kobe Bryant also had a smack talk moment at the free-throw line. This one’s a bit more extreme as the Los Angeles Lakers were up by just two points with 4.8 seconds on the clock. Bryant needed to drain the free throws to put them up by 3. This was not enough pressure for the Black Mamba as he randomly put $500,000 on the line for a single free throw. This clip is more interesting because Metta World Peace (now known as Metta Sandiford-Artest) tried to calm Bryant down. Usually it was the other way around.
“You know if you miss these that’s game” - LeBron to Gilbert Arenas
We haven’t heard much of LeBron James’ smack talk antics, but it doesn’t mean they do not exist. Perhaps when he bids the game goodbye, players will start sharing their favorite LeBron story. Gilbert Arenas could be the first one ever to share a LeBron trash talk story. The whole thing was captured on camera, but it was not until years later that we knew what exactly James told him. What makes this sequence epic is that the Cavaliers were actually down by one point with 14.1 seconds left. This shows James’s confidence that if Arenas gave them a shot, it would be all over.
“The mailman don’t deliver on Sunday” - Pippen to Malone
While this isn’t a Top 5 list, Scottie Pippen’s trash talk to Karl Malone in Game 1 of the 1997 NBA Finals is probably the most epic line in history. Pippen used Malone’s alias against him. He also utilized the fact that mailmen really don’t deliver on Sundays as it is their rest day. Contrary to other plays on this list, Pippen delivered the words of death on the biggest stage of them all.
