Getty Patrick Mahomes
It’s been nearly two months since retired Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others lost their lives in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. As the nation continues to mourn since that tragic January 26 morning, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes explained how he first found out about that devastating accident on the season three premiere for HBO’s “The Shop.”
“I still want to be like him and elevate my game on the field & off the field.”
@PatrickMahomes speaks on the lasting impact of Kobe Bryant 🙏🏽💜💛 #TheShopHBO @hbo
“Everybody was kinda sleeping on the plane. And I just get a text message from my girlfriend and she said ‘Kobe just died.’ And I–obviously I was like, ‘Where did you see that? That’s gotta be fake.'”
The 24-year-old continues: “After I, like, look at it on Twitter and see it going crazy, I started letting guys on the team know.”
When Mahomes and company eventually landed in Miami to begin Super Bowl preparations, he mentions that no one was necessarily in a celebratory mood, given the severity of the news.
“I literally just had my shades on and walked straight to the bus. I got on the bus and just sat there.”
While Mahomes was “never fortunate enough to meet Kobe,” that doesn’t mean the late star didn’t have an impact on his life on and off the field.
“I would watch YouTube videos of him talking, not only about sports and his mentality about sports and how great he was ’cause of his drive and everything like that. But, off the field with his family and with this business ventures and everything. I just, like honestly, I wanted to be just like him. And I still want to be like him and elevate my game on and off the field.”
That notion certainly rings true, and Mahomes has found many ways to honor the 41-year-old since his passing. On Monday, the Texas Tech product was seen donning a Bryant jersey in a Tik Tok video posted by his younger brother Jackson Mahomes.
While he may no longer be with us physically, the Mamba Mentality will forever be one of the many components of Bryant’s legacy.
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