In light of Kobe Bryant’s death in Sunday’s California helicopter crash, the sports world was shocked. Kobe was among nine victims in the deadly crash, which also claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
But in the days following the crash, some of Kobe’s former teammates began to reminisce on their time with the Lakers great — providing those lighthearted moments to help with the mourning process. Well, leave it to Lou Williams and Nick Young to provide the story that we all needed.
Young tweeted about Kobe being the first one to check in on him before and after his surgery. He remembered responding to Kobe that he was going to tell everyone about the time Kobe threw away his sneakers.
I just seen you man and you was talking about the broke thumb story lol crazy ass didn’t believe me but I tell everybody you was the first person to check up on me before surgery and after. I told him imma tell the story of him throwing my shoes in the trash next and he laughed
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) January 27, 2020
To that, Williams jumped in and shared more details about that story. Basically, the Lakers were blown out by the Trail Blazers, and Bryant took away his teammates’ Nike Kobe sneakers — and tossed them in the trash — because they were too “soft” to wear them.
We got blew out in Portland. He took everybody Kobe’s and said they couldn’t wear it cause we was soft 😂😂
— Lou Williams (@TeamLou23) January 28, 2020
There was also this story after that Portland loss (NSFW language).
I was cracking up when you told this story Lou. 💔 pic.twitter.com/RGBSqlazyU
— Emil (@emil_harb) January 28, 2020
If there was ever an anecdote that summed up Kobe’s competitive nature — even among his teammates — that was probably it right there.
You can read more from USA TODAY Sports.
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