by Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

Smush Parker won’t go away.

The former NBA point guard got famous again when Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, his former teammate, called him “the worst” and said other disparaging things. At that point, we thought Bryant was a mean meanie who said mean things.

Then Parker fired back, and we wondered if he was a bit green with envy because Bryant is good at basketball and stuff.

Now Bryant’s retorted to the retort. And we don’t know what to think. From the Los Angeles Times:

Bryant couldn’t stop laughing Friday when talking about Parker firing back at him.

“I was devastated,” Bryant said. “What’s he going to do? ‘Yeah, Kobe’s right?’ I gave him his little 30 minutes of fame again. I wish him the best of luck. Maybe he’ll get back to the NBA one day and can see what it’s like up close again.”

In case you’re wondering, Parker was last known to be playing earlier this year in the Dominican Republic.

Oh, and we found a photo by USA TODAY’s Robert Hanashiro of Parker and Bryant hugging in 2006. How cute. We will use this photo whenever we write about Smush Parker. Promise.

… [For more on Kobe Bryant thinks Smush Parker is hilarious, click here.]