Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving spoke about the first time he met Kobe Bryant during an appearance on Kevin Durant's new podcast, The ETCs. The interaction came in 2012 when Irving was practicing with the Team USA Select Team ahead of the London Olympics.

Irving claimed he “practiced” what he would say to Kobe n the mirror beforehand because he was so nervous. Naturally, Kyrie's introduction was to then suggest he could beat Kobe one-on-one and say Bryant could not guard him:

Irving and the late Los Angeles Lakers legend developed quite a relationship through the years.

Kobe became something of a mentor to Irving, something he spoke about during an interview in 2019. Kyrie said he FaceTimed Bryant after the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA championship in 2016, and the two developed a closeness.

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Kyrie was very emotional after the tragic news of Bryant's death in a helicopter crash in late January, later saying he would always look to Kobe for guidance:

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” Kyrie Irving said in January, via Malika Andrews of ESPN. “I had that mentorship relationship with him, where I was able to ask him almost anything. You know no matter how nervous I was or how fearful I was, he was just easy to approach with those type of questions about what goes on in the day-in and day-out basis of chasing something that's bigger than yourself and when you're trying to leave a legacy or something of a mark on a game.”

Irving undoubtedly hopes to carry Bryant's teachings with him in the future.

However, Kyrie Irving also has the fondness of looking back on that first memory when he challenged Bryant to a game of one-on-one.