Nothing motivates any player of any sport to be better than to be motivated by other athletes saying to do better or discourage them. The biggest names in sports are often compared to the great ones of the sports they play.

In 2010, Lebron James was trying to reach another milestone in his young career: an NBA championship. He teamed up with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade on the Miami Heat hoping to win a championship. This then provoked Kobe Bryant to trash talk a little to James.

Bryant was coming off his fifth championship win with the Los Angeles Lakers and second time winning back-to-back championships. Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report tells us Kobe sent LeBron a text after "The Decision," telling him to go get another MVP, but the Lakers were going to win the championship.

The Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics in seven games during that 2010 NBA Finals series, but that was not the headline. The headline was that James would be leaving his hometown Cleveland to go and play for the Miami Heat. Fans were outraged, people started to burn his jersey, and fans quickly called him bad names.

Bryant, at the time, probably thought that Phil Jackson was coming back to the Lakers in hopes to coach them to a third consecutive NBA title.

Bryant sent a text to James with the following message, "Go ahead and get another MVP, if you want. And find the city you want to live in. But we're going to win the championship. Don't worry about it."

Was this the motivation Lebron needed to get over the hump in winning an NBA Championship in 2012?

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About the author
Stefan Abramian
Stefan likes to write about sports. Particularly basketball, but to be specific NBA. His favorite team is the Los Angeles Lakers but will write about any team. Make sure to follow him on Twitter StefanAbramian_