Picturing Kobe Bryant in something however a Lakers jersey feels bizarre.
However again in 2004 he virtually performed for the Memphis Grizzlies. Wild.
Memphis Grizzlies legend Kobe Bryant doesn’t fairly have the identical ring to it as LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, does it?
Kobe grew to become an unrestricted free agent in the summertime of 2004 for the primary time ever and at the moment, Jerry West was the GM for the Grizzlies.
After all, West was a Lakers hero in his personal proper however was GM of Memphis from 2002-07 and Kobe was able to make the change.
However West satisfied him in any other case.
“So I met [Kobe and his agent Rob Pelinka] in Orange County in a resort room,” West mentioned on the Podcast P with Paul George. “He mentioned he wished to come back to Memphis to play basketball. I have a look at him and mentioned, ‘Are you kidding me?’” He mentioned no. I mentioned, ‘Kobe, no, no. You belong someplace out right here. Okay?’”
“And regardless that he would have by no means performed there, I simply wished to reassure him that — don’t really feel like you have got any obligation with me or the Grizzlies to play right here. I assume in some sense, that may have been tampering. I didn’t have a look at it as tampering as a result of he was at our home on a regular basis. He ate at my home rather a lot. I felt extra like a father determine with him.”
West went on to element the large quantity of respect he had for a tremendous basketball participant and superb human being.
“I had an exquisite relationship with him,” West mentioned. Neglect as a basketball participant. I liked what he stood for, his dedication to excellence. He wasn’t afraid of failing. When you get afraid of failing, you’re going to fail. He was not afraid.”
Kobe’s later companion in crime, Pau Gasol was drafted to the Grizzlies in 2001 so if Kobe did resolve to make the change, the pair might have crossed paths earlier.
Gasol and Kobe gained two championships collectively within the purple and gold and now their jerseys cling within the rafters side-by-side at Crypto.com Enviornment.
May they’ve gained extra championships collectively on the Grizzlies? Guess we’ll by no means know.
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