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Kyrie Irving Challenges Kobe Bryant To 1-on-1 Battle For $50,000

One of the fun things about having everyone on the USA's Men's National Basketball Team all coming from teams in the same league is that the players all know each other fairly well and can dish out a bit of trash talk and playful jive.

Cleveland Cavaliers star rookie Kyrie Irving decided to get a little of that going against Kobe Bryant at a practice when Irving challenged the Black Mamba to a game of 1-on-1. Even better, he wagered a little money -- for charity of course -- on it, $50,000.

Oh, and there's video of it as well.

"You have to guard! You're not going to lock me up" is on of many great lines in the back-and-forth. Kyrie's talk about how this isn't high school at the beginning was worth a chuckle as well.

Kobe might be wise to not take the challenge too lightly, as Irving already showed at one point during the Team USA workouts that he's got the moves to get past Kobe if he needs to. We can only hope this wasn't just playful trash talk, as a 1-on-1 showdown between the two would assuredly be supremely entertaining.

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.