Back in the 2015-16 season, Golden State Warriors star D'Angelo Russell was a highly-touted rookie for the Los Angeles Lakers after being selected second overall in that summer's draft. That also happened to be the final season of Kobe Bryant's illustrious career, and as admitted by Russell himself, one of his biggest regrets was not being able to learn as much as he could from the future Hall of Famer during their brief stint as teammates.

“Looking back on it, he dropped so many jewels on me that I didn’t even hear because I was not there mentally,” Russell said, via The Athletic's Anthony Slater.

Russell looked back at one very specific encounter with Kobe, wherein the Lakers legend provided him with a valuable lesson on longevity in the league — something that apparently went over Russell's head at that point.

“I remember one time we were in Houston and I went to his room with his security guard,” Russell recollected. “Kobe comes in and says, ‘You know, when you go on these road trips, you want to have fun, you want to turn up, you want to do all that in these cities.’ But he said, ‘I gained an edge by taking meetings on these road trips, business meetings. What can I do to establish my brand, figure out what I like to do, advance my life after basketball?'”

Three years later, Russell is now realizing the value of Bryant's message.

“But looking back on it, I’m like, man, he was really teaching me what’s really relevant now and a lot of kids don’t get it until they’re 8-10 years in and realize what they want to do,” he said. “Then they attack it, but they’re on their way out and their (ability to make money) isn’t the same.”

It's great that despite being just 23 years young, Russell appears to be reaching a level of maturity wherein he is already thinking about his future in the league. It has been quite a journey for the former Ohio State standout thus far, and despite the bumps, the most important part is that he's learned a lot along the way.