LaMelo Ball looked up, flung his shooting wrist and unleashed a smile that seemingly said it all — the effect of Kobe Bryant.
“You throw a little piece of paper in the sky and yell, ‘Kobe!’” Ball told Yahoo Sports.
Ball isn’t someone who would’ve considered the late Kobe Bryant a big source of inspiration, but as a Southern California kid who was coming of age during the back end of Bryant’s prime — their birthdays are separated by a day, with Bryant born Aug. 23 and Ball a day before — he understood what Bryant meant to Los Angeles, to the NBA and to the culture.
“Legend for sure. Everybody loved Kobe. It’s Kobe, you know. Everybody knows what he did, how he did it. Respect. Legend,” Ball said.
The parallels are probably more coincidental than anything symbolic. Both come from basketball families, both were drafted by the Charlotte Hornets, although Bryant was sent to Los Angeles in a draft-night trade, and both are known for an unwavering confidence that oftentimes prevented them from acknowledging anyone else in the room, athletically.
Bryant’s cultural impact was birthed during his playing days, sprouted after his retirement but has seemingly multiplied since his death four years ago today.
The shooting bit started as a small clip on “Chappelle’s Show” in the early 2000s, then took on a life of its own soon after. Even WWE wrestler The Undertaker was seen shooting a piece of trash into a can and saying, “Kobe.”
It’s still eerie to remember Bryant was with us until that Sunday morning, when his helicopter crashed, killing him and eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. The night before, LeBron James was in Bryant’s hometown of Philadelphia, passing him on the all-time scoring list with a layup in the third quarter.
James got a text that night from Bryant once he made it to the locker room, congratulating him, and James went through the long, winding history of him admiring Bryant since the Adidas ABCD Camp in 2001, as a competitor going for NBA supremacy, then as a teammate on Olympic teams in 2008 and 2012.
“We just felt like he was immortal,” James said…
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