Boston Celtics swingman and February's Eastern Conference Player of the Month Jayson Tatum has spoken at length about his admiration for the late Kobe Bryant in recent years.
Tatum has said he sought to apply the “Mamba Mentality” to his own game and, apparently, he wanted to be like “Bean” from a very young age.
Tatum's mother said the Celtics All-Star wanted to be Kobe ever since he was just a child (via Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer):
When he was in first or second grade, Tatum told his mom, “I want to be like Kobe.” His mother, Brandy Cole-Barnes, responded: “Oh, so you want to play basketball?” “No,” Tatum said. “I want to be Kobe.” Cole-Barnes went one step further. “You shouldn’t want to be Kobe. You should want to be better than Kobe,” Cole-Barnes recalled. “Jayson looked at me like I was growing a unicorn horn on my head. He was like, ‘Better than Kobe? You clearly don’t know who Kobe is.’ He was young, but I wanted him to know you don’t want to be another person. He left the conversation still adamant, ‘No, I want to be Kobe.’”
The former Duke star has certainly done his best to pay homage to his hero as of late.
Tatum took the league by storm in February, averaging 30.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 12 games for the Celtics while also posting a .637 true shooting percentage, according to Basketball Reference.
The 22-year-old also honored Kobe by wearing a purple armband during a remarkable 41-point performance for the Celtics against the Lakers on Feb. 23.
Nobody will ever quite be like Kobe Bryant, who transcended basketball and became a global and cultural phenomenon in his 20-year career with the Lakers. However, there is no doubt Jayson Tatum is turning heads as the league's net big star.
Follow Us
Subscribe