The Los Angeles Lakers honored franchise legend Kobe Bryant this past week by unveiling his statue in front of Crypto.com Arena.
The statue immortalizing Bryant has been in the works for years and the franchise did right by him with the ceremony and actual depiction of him.
Bryant’s wife Vanessa revealed that the Black Mamba himself chose the pose for his statue and fans were delighted with the reveal as he picked his iconic image after scoring 81 points against the Toronto Raptors.
For players who got the opportunity to compete against Bryant, there is no shortage of stories of what he is like on the court.
Bryant was well-known for his competitiveness and ruthlessness on the court, and Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green got to experience it up close.
Green said his favorite Bryant story involved him guarding the Lakers’ shooting guard at the end of the game and although he forced a miss, the Hall of Famer ribbed him the only way he knew how, via The Volume.
“That ain’t have nothing to do with you young fella I just missed,” Green recalled Bryant saying.
Bryant had a chance to hit a game-winner, but Green stepped up to contest the shot that just missed the rim.
Of course, Bryant had to make sure that Green knew that he got the look he wanted and simply just didn’t make it.
It’s hilarious to think that Bryant would go out of his way to tell Green he didn’t affect his shot, but that was him at his core as a player.
