Kobe Bryant didn't need a whole lot of words to make an impact. Speaking on Podcast P with Paul George by Wave Sports + Entertainment, Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson has provided a prime example of that with an anecdote about his ‘favorite memory with Kob'.

The story went like this:

“One time for the NBA global games in 2013, I can't sleep because of jetlag and all so I go up to the weight room and I'm on the dumbell bench and somebody taps me on the shoulder and I look up and I'm like ‘oh damn!'. It was Kobe, hood on shades on. I'm like ‘I can't believe I'm in the same gym as this man.' He just goes ‘sup,' shakes my hand, and goes to the other side of the gym and starts doing his workout,” Thompson said.

A relatively minor interaction it may appear to be, but he wasn't the only one who remembered it. Three years later, during his retirement tour, Bryant himself referenced the exchange, according to Thompson saying “I knew Klay would be good when I saw him in the weight room and he was the only guy there, that's the stuff that impresses me.”

Thompson went on to say, “So when I heard him say that that's all I needed to hear. If I keep doing what I'm doing I'm gonna fulfill my potential. That was my favorite memory with Kob, it was one word, all he said was ‘sup.' but just to know I was on that Mamba mentality with him, it was a dream come true.”

That Mamba mentality, of course, is synonymous with Kobe Bryant, but Thompson has demonstrated plenty of drive and resilience of his own throughout the course of his career, both in his ability to contribute to the Warriors' four championships and his capacity to work through the long-term injuries which have befallen him in recent years.

Back in 2013, when this interaction occurred, Klay was just two years into his NBA career, while Kobe was closer to two decades into his. The fact that Klay Thompson still recalls this memory so fondly, even one decade on and having established himself as probably the second greatest shooter in the game's history, is testament to the legacy that Kobe Bryant continues to leave.