Getty Lakers Kobe Bryant and Rockets Tracy McGrady
The NBA lost one of its pillars over the weekend when Los Angeles Laker great Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. Along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, Bryant was traveling to his Mamba Academy to participate in a basketball game at the facility, according to numerous reports.
Bryant described Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady as the toughest person he had to guard in his career. “Tracy McGrady was the single hardest match-up I had in my career, he could just do about everything on offense,” wrote Bryant, per ESPN.
McGrady likewise named Bryant as the toughest he ever faced in a 2013 interview with TMZ Sports. “It’s Kobe, all day … Absolutely, ain’t nobody close.”
During Monday afternoon’s episode of ESPN’s The Jump, host Rachel Nichols asked McGrady to share some memories of Kobe Bryant. McGrady said that early on their career, Bryant told him he wanted to die young.
“It’s crazy, but Kobe spoke this,” McGrady said. “He used to say all the time, ‘I wanna die young.’ He used to say, ‘I wanna die young. I wanna be immortalized. I want to have my career be better than Michael Jordan, and I wanna die young.’ And I just thought he was so crazy for saying that.”
“Hearing you say, ‘Oh, I wanna die young, I wanna be a legend.’ That’s totally in line with young Kobe,” Nichols said. “But older Kobe, the Kobe that you and I spent the last year watching, the 40, 41-year-old Kobe, he wanted to be around for his family.”
McGrady acknowledged that Bryant made these comments before he had kids. “Clearly, that statement was way before kids. Once he had kids, he didn’t have that mindset.”
Tracy McGrady was in tears recalling young Kobe’s words:
“I thought he was crazy. He used to say, ‘I wanna die young. I wanna be immortalized.'” (via @Rachel__Nichols)
McGrady also talked about Bryant’s daughter Gianna. “She was special. She was built like Kobe, her mannerisms, everything,” he said. “To watch her play was like watching a young Kobe. She had the moves. She had a fadeaway at 13 years old. I’m watching this girl, and she just looks like her dad out there, and just, ‘Man she’s gonna be special.’ And she’s not going to get that opportunity.”
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Rockets Great Tracy McGrady Says Lakers’ Kobe Bryant Wanted to ‘Die Young’ and be ‘Immortalized’