During the 2014-15 season, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant showed up to practice once while injured to say goodbye to some of the players he thought were about to get traded at the 2015 trade deadline.
However, this wasn't a tearful goodbye. Instead, the late Lakers icon was saying goodbye in “Black Mamba” fashion, according to Jeremy Lin.
Via Robby Kalland at Dime On UPROXX:
“He comes in, sweatsuit [on], he has a sling around for his hurt shoulder, he has his shades on, his Kobe shades,” Lin recalls. “And he walks in and everyone’s like, ‘Ohhhh’ and Booz, Carlos Boozer, is like ‘Kob! Good to see you bro! Dang, we haven’t seen you in a bit, how come you came today?’ And he was just stone-faced, and he was like, ‘I just came by to say bye to some of you bums who are going to get traded tomorrow.’ [laughs] And then he sits down at the table where you control the scoreboard at the practice facility and he said a couple words to the coach, and then he left. And I remember one of my teammates was just like ‘I lost all motivation to practice.’”
Imagine being on the #Lakers with Kobe Bryant and going into February w/ trading deadline approaching with a 13-34 record. @JLin7 recalled a practice during that 2014-15 season.
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That 2014-15 Lakers team is one of the worst Purple and Gold clubs in franchise history. They won just 21 games, with Bryant appearing in only 35 contests due to injury.
Kobe averaged 22.3 points that season but shot just 37.3 percent from the field. The former MVP was knocking off the rust after basically missing the entire 2013-14 campaign recovering from his Achilles tear.
Hilariously enough, the Lakers didn't even make a trade that year, but Kobe surely didn't care about these harsh words before the deadline.
“The Last Dance” docuseries on Michael Jordan and the ’90s Chicago Bulls has reminded everyone just how ruthless a competitor Jordan was. Kobe was one of the few players in NBA history who could rival Jordan’s competitive flare.
Kobe Bryant is the greatest Lakers player in franchise history. He finished his Purple and Gold career with averages of 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Kobe won five championships with the Lakers and two Finals MVPs. His tragic death still doesn't seem real even though it happened roughly four months ago.
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