Sunday will mark five years since Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant died, but his legacy in the NBA continues.
A group of young stars, some old enough to have had several interactions with Bryant, have been outspoken about Bryant’s influence and impact on their careers.
Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a helicopter crash the morning of Jan. 26, 2020, in Calabasas, California, as the contingent was on its way to an AAU basketball game Gianna was supposed to play in.
Bryant was 41.
Some of the players who consider Bryant an inspiration:
Jayson Tatum carries on ‘Mamba mentality’
Perhaps the player who most embodies this is Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum.
On Tuesday night, Tatum appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” where he was asked about how he idolized Bryant. He said Bryant mentored him after Bryant discussed Tatum’s game on the ESPN show “Detail”.
“After that (show), we connected and I got to pick his brain, I worked out with him, I met with him,” Tatum said during the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” appearance. “So, yeah, he was a big help to me. …
“Just like a full-circle moment. I was a kid in St. Louis growing up and the person that inspired me to chase my dream and going and being as great as I can was 3,000 miles away and 15 years later, he was a mentor and we got to talking. I remember the first time we worked out, he asked me a question, he was like: ‘How much does it mean to you?’ and that was such a powerful thing because you think of all the things he sacrificed and how hard he worked to perfect his craft, how much does it mean to you to be one of the greatest?”
On May 29, 2022, as the Celtics traveled to Miami to face the Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, Tatum led all Boston players with 26 points in a victory that sent the Celtics to the Finals. During the game, he wore a purple armband with the No. 24 on it, an homage to Bryant’s jersey number with the Lakers. In fact, Tatum revealed that before the game, he texted Bryant’s old phone number with the message: “I got you today.”
In the past two Olympic games, Tatum has worn jersey No. 10 for Team USA, which was the same number Bryant wore when representing the U.S.
After Bryant’s death, Tatum got a tattoo on his left leg of the No. 24 in black Mamba snakes, which paid tribute to Bryant’s jersey number, and his Black Mamba nickname.
‘Be Legendary.’
In March 2016, then a rookie, Devin Booker of the Suns played his first and only game against Bryant. Booker scored 28 points in a Phoenix victory, and impressed Bryant so much that Bryant gifted him a signed pair of shoes with the caption: “Be Legendary.”
Booker, at times in his career, has drawn comparisons to Bryant for his scoring proficiency and easy jumper.
“He inspired me,” Booker said in 2019. “He changed the game of basketball. Changed the city of Los Angeles. Just incredible. The way he went out and got love on every road trip he went on. If you wouldn’t want to go out like that, I don’t know why you’re playing the game.
“So that always sticks in my head while I’m playing. When I’m done, I want to be remembered as someone like Kobe Bryant.”
Team USA stars see Kobe Bryant work ethic up close
Bryant was a key member of the 2008 and 2012 Team USA squads that won gold medals. In fact, Team USA did not lose a single game in which Bryant was a member of the team.
He served as a captain in 2008 and young stars like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony all witnessed how maniacal Bryant was in his approach and preparation. In 2012 there were new players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Anthony Davis who also saw this.
“Kobe’s a brother to me,” James said during a pre-game speech before the first Lakers game after Bryant’s death. ‘From the time I was in high school and watching him from afar to getting in this league at 18 watching him up close, all the battles we had throughout my career, the one thing that we always shared is that determination to just want to win and just want to be great.”
‘Giannis literally changed after that meeting’
Because of Bryant’s immense popularity abroad during his playing days, aided in part because of Bryant’s experience living in Italy, he championed the growth and development of basketball in Europe, Africa, Asia and beyond.
It’s no surprise, therefore, that players like Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo looked up to him.
In fact, in Mirin Fader’s book ‘Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA Champion’, she details a moment when Bryant pulled Antetokounmpo aside after a Lakers-Bucks game to give him advice.
The game was Feb. 22, 2016, when Antetokounmpo was in his third year. The Bucks started Antetokounmpo at point guard for the first time in his career that night, and he responded with his first career triple-double, scoring 27 points and adding 12 rebounds and 10 assists. The Bucks won, 108-101, in what would be Bryant’s last game in Milwaukee.
After the game Bryant sought out Antetokounmpo and counseled him for an hour, per Fader.
“Kobe gave him advice for about an hour,” Fader wrote, per Sports Illustrated. “He told him to work on his jump shot, get in the gym every day, and shoot a thousand jumpers a day. Kobe also told him about the mentality it took to be great. ‘Be serious until the last day you play basketball,’ Kobe told him, also noting the importance of recovery, of taking care of one’s body, of making sacrifices. …
“Giannis literally changed after that meeting.”
Antetokounmpo is a two-time NBA MVP and Embiid has won the award once.
Follow NBA reporter Lorenzo Reyes on social media @LorenzoGReyes