Kyrie Irving found himself in one of the most trying moments of his professional career shortly after losing last year's NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors. The perennial point guard was told he might be traded to the Phoenix Suns just days after the Warriors were crowned champions.

Concerned about what's to come, Irving reached out to one of his mentors, Kobe Bryant, in a moment of doubt and needing a grasp for direction.

“He was one of the guys that I reached out to,” Irving said after a recent practice, according to Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. “Not necessarily to gauge his thoughts on the decision, or to give me the okay, but it was for some clarity and also what the next steps going forward [would be].”

“Because there was some chance I was going to maybe be in Phoenix, or maybe in situations where the environment hadn’t been winning for a while, and Kobe dealt with that in 2005-06, and that was tough. So I had to ask him, and gauge him about that, but after the fact, after everything happened, he was just super proud, and super happy.”

The rumors of him ending up in the Valley of the Sun might have been the beginning stages of his decision to request a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers weeks after the NBA Finals, looking to carve his own path.

Irving reportedly had threatened the front office with sitting out the entire season by having surgery in his knee, forcing their hand at finding a trade suitor and one that he approved of.

Using leverage the way in which he did isn't a Padawan trick, but one of a true Jedi — a skill Bryant had mastered after 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Despite what was going on from the outside influences and what everyone else felt was best for him, [Bryant] always did what was best for his career for himself,” Irving said. “He figured it out. At times throughout a professional career you’re going to be tested, and there are times where you’re going try to appease the media, you try to appease your teammates, you try to appease the coaching staff, whoever, whatever situation you are in, you try to kind of blend in.

“The best thing I learned from him is you don’t necessarily have to blend in. You can stand out.”

Irving did indeed do what was best for him and now finds himself reaping the riches with his Boston Celtics leading the East and most-recently acquiring center Greg Monroe, a welcome addition thanks to Gordon Hayward's disabled player exception, which allowed the team to pay him a $5 million salary for the rest of the season.