Over the course of his illustrious career, Kobe Bryant wore two jersey numbers for the Los Angeles Lakers. While sporting jersey number eight in his earlier days in the league, Bryant was able to emerge as a superstar and a ruthless offensive player, winning three straight championships.
When he switched to number 24, Bryant had already established his niche and he further built on his legacy by winning back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. For his former teammate and current Lakers head coach, Luke Walton, there is a difference he noticed before and after The Black Mamba changed the number on his jersey.
As it turned out, Kobe Bryant strengthened his legacy further in the final years of his professional career. The Lakers legend will forever be remembered as one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen.
Luke Walton, on the other hand, definitely learned a lot from playing and competing with Bryant. Now that he is a head coach, Walton can apply some first-hand mamba wisdom to the new generation of Lakers as the franchise looks ahead to a promising future.
A return to prominence is very attainable for Los Angeles, and Kobe Bryant, through Luke Walton, may have something to do with that.