Kyrie Irving recently opened up about this during online influencer Kai Cenat’s Thanksgiving Special stream. The Mavericks star talked about the advice Kobe Bryant gave him during his 2016 championship run and how he wanted players to strive to be better than him: “When somebody tells you to do something for the greater good of the team it’s not always gonna sound like the best thing. You gotta be able to know how to take that advice and apply it. But for him, yea 2016 he told me to really start isolating myself a little bit more to get a greater sense of who I am and how you have to approach every day. That’s the best Kobe story I can give is his approach to life, his approach to the game of basketball was transformative. It gave us a hero to look up to, but also he didn’t wanna be looked up to as a hero he wanted to always let you know ‘you’re gonna be better than me. Don’t try to strive to be where I’m at, try to strive to go past and if you can’t go past then keep striving for your own goals.’ The perception of him was so crazy too. Lets not forget people were on the Kobe hate train for a while, he wasn’t always the most favorite athlete. I know some of you guys have your favorite athletes here and you’ll go to bat for them. But Kob was like one of those ones that made it out the fire. Media turned on him, fans turned on him, and to be a Kobe fan when you were younger during those times you really had to have those tough conversations. I asked him all those questions on how he dealt with it mentally, spiritually, emotionally. How he really got closer with his wife and his kids. How he was more open to life when he left the league because he didn’t have to be competitive with us anymore. Kob always split the line though, he wasn’t close with anybody. He wasn’t working out with anybody in the summer, he would only give a few people the information that were willing to listen. So you had to initiate yourself as a student like, ‘I know nothing. Teach me.’” -via Lakers Nation / November 29, 2024
Woj: Kobe Bryant was convinced he was going to end up with the Knicks
