“I could go to a super team … but this is the hard way to do it, and we did it. We f—ing did it,” Giannis Antetokounmpo on signing his supermax to stay in Milwaukee. Kobe clearly influenced Giannis and he will continue to represent everything great about sports. In 2019 they worked out together. Kobe shared how the experience was:

“He came to work out with me this summer and he showed up 1.5 hours early. We talked for 20 minutes before we worked out and he whips out a notepad and starts taking down notes… He’s just getting better all the time. He’s just scratching the surface.”

Kobe then said: “After practice same thing; he sits down, and we talked for like an hour. We talked about coverages and defensive matchups that gave him problems. He just sat there and took notes. And he studied and studied so I’m not surprised at what he’s doing.”

Kobe Bryant is possibly one of the greatest NBA players of all-time and the greatest Laker ever. Two jersey numbers in the rafters at the STAPLES Center prove it. Kobe was able to take over games in ways that not many players could.

His drive to win at any cost helped him succeed on and off the court. An 18-time NBA All-Star, five-time NBA champion and one-time NBA MVP, Kobe tragically passed away on January 26, 2020. Kobe’s game was influenced by Michael Jordan, he never denied it.

Eduardo Solano, from FOX Sports Radio 1340 AM Hopewell and AccuScore, wrote this about Kobe Bryant last year:

“I’ve always been a Chicago Bulls fan but I followed Kobe Bryant’s entire career! Kobe is one of my favorite athletes of all-time and I still can’t process that he is gone.”