LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 28: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers attempts to block the shot of Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center on December 28, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers won 104-87. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Kobe Bryant has the respect of NBA free agent Jamal Crawford.
Appearing on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Crawford discussed the time Bryant showed up to his pro am in Seattle.
“Kobe was just out-of-this-world good,” Crawford told me.
“He was out-of-this-world competitive. He was brilliant and he had such a giving heart. It wasn’t to the point where me and him talked every single day or anything like that, we did text and it was always respectful and always helpful. I’m just glad that people saw that part. He was always giving and that was him,” Jamal Crawford said about the Lakers great.
GettyJamal Crawford
“Like when he came to my Pro-Am, I asked him when are you leaving and people were trying to shoo him off and rush him off and he said, ‘I’m going to watch Jamal play.’ He had his plane, he brought his family with him. He could’ve had any reason or any excuse to leave, but he didn’t. He came. And that’s some of the things that people don’t see. His inspiration will last forever, like literally past lifetimes.”
A five-time NBA champ, Bryant has both his No. 8 and No. 24 retired by the Los Angeles Lakers. “As a fan, just watching him play and putting up all those points and playing at such a high level at such a great organization like the Lakers,” his dad, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant once told Scoop B Radio.
“I think that’s probably one of the important things. These kids come out of school and they worry about being a number one pick, number two pick, I think it’s more important that you get with the right organization and Kobe was able to do that and as you see, playing with one organization is really something special.”
Bryant, 41, died in a helicopter crash in a helicopter crash in Calabasas that took the lives of nine people, including Bryant’s daughter, Gigi on Sunday, January 26.
Since Bryant’s death, many around the basketball world have spoken about his impact on hoops. Some have wondered if the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft will be on the cover of NBA 2K21.
“Yeah there is going to be Kobe,” he told me.
“You don’t even have to worry about that. Definitely going to be Kobe. And I don’t know what they’re going to do with the money, but they’re going to do the right thing. Kobe’s family does the right thing.”
A two-time NBA Finals MVP, Kobe Bryant retired in 2016 with career averages of 25 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists.