Kobe Bryant Writes Letter to His 17-Year-Old Self for the Players’ Tribune

Retired Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant wrote a letter to himself as a 17-year-old on Wednesday.

The piece, published at the Players’ Tribune, focused on investing rather than giving.

Bryant explained to young Kobe that buying material items for family and friends was self-serving. It was for him, not them.

“While you were feeling satisfied with yourself, you were slowly eating away at their own dreams and ambitions,” he wrote.

 But investing is different:

Use your success, wealth and influence to put them in the best position to realize their own dreams and find their true purpose. Put them through school, set them up with job interviews and help them become leaders in their own right. Hold them to the same level of hard work and dedication that it took for you to get to where you are now, and where you will eventually go.

Bryant described the dependence of those around him on his help as an “addiction” he facilitated, which he wrote leads to anger and jealousy. The Black Mamba also advised his former self to plan a budget for his parents before signing that first contract, because life flies by so quickly.

The 37-year-old concluded the piece by writing that following this advice will help avoid “a ton of tears and heartache, some of which remains to this day.”

[Players’ Tribune]

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Mike Krzyzewski Comments on Kobe Bryant’s Interest in Playing for Team USA

The United States Olympic basketball team is getting set for the 2016 Summer Games beginning on August 5 in Rio de Janeiro. But on Tuesday, head coach Mike Krzyzewski was talking about a player who isn’t on the roster, former Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. 

ESPN.com’s Arash Markazi provided his comments:

Bryant retired after in April after a 20-year NBA career and five titles to go with two gold medals that he won with Coach Krzyzewski and Team USA in 2008 and 2012. 

He averaged 13.6 points in 16 games at the Olympics, including a 20-point performance in the gold-medal game against Spain in Beijing in 2008.

After originally telling Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press in November of 2015 that he wanted to play in the Olympics this summer, Bryant told Jody Genessy of the Deseret News in January that he wouldn’t go after a spot on the team.

So basketball fans hoping to see Bryant on the court one last time must be content with his final performance, which was a memorable 60-point, 50-shot game against the Utah Jazz:    

Krzyzewski believes there’s no way to top that, even in pursuit of a third gold medal, per Markazi:

At 37, Bryant would have been by far the oldest player on the United States’ roster, as Carmelo Anthony holds the title of eldest statesman at 32 years old. Eight players are 26 or younger, forming a new, youthful team that will take the court Rio in a few weeks. 

So Bryant, like the majority of United States fans, will have to watch Team USA at home and can continue to enjoy his retirement to the fullest.      

     

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.

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Kyrie Irving Reveals He FaceTimed Kobe Bryant After Cavs Won NBA Title

When athletes win the ultimate championship title in their respective sports, they want to do nothing but celebrate with their teammates, family and closest friends.

For Kyrie Irving, the championship celebration would not have been complete without an NBA legend.

During an interview with ThePostGame, the Cleveland Cavaliers guard revealed a cool factoid about how he commemorated his team’s first title:

I actually FaceTimed Kobe after the game as soon as I got in the locker room. Other than seeing my dad and my sister right after we won, FaceTiming him was just a great thing, knowing how he has won five and I just won my first. Then realizing how hard it is just to win one, my respect for him is already high, but it went to another level knowing that he’s got five of them. I’m trying to get a second one.

While Bryant and Irving have gone head-to-head as opponents a few times since the former Duke Blue Devils star entered the league in 2011, a friendship has formed through the years. Part of that could be due to the fact that they both took part in Team USA’s camp before the 2012 London Olympics.

The two have apparently become close enough to the point that Uncle Drew wanted the recently retired Black Mamba to be a part of the party:

[Bryant] was telling me congrats. I had been speaking to him throughout the entire playoffs and during the season. During the Finals, we didn’t really talk as much, because for me, I wanted to experience it full on, and if I needed his help, I would reach out to him. He would send me some texts here and there, but mainly he kind of let me be, and let me grow into my own space.

If there’s somebody a young player in today’s NBA should want to take notes from, it’s Bryant. The Black Mamba could score at will and knew what it took to win a title (or five). Irving obviously has one of the greatest players in NBA history on his team in LeBron James, but sometimes it’s helpful to get a few tips outside your team.

There’s no denying what kind of an impact Bryant had on the Lakers organization and the league as a whole. It’s just awesome to see that as he went out of the league, he also apparently took a young player under his wing and helped him on his way to reaching the ultimate goal.

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