The city of Los Angeles woke up in a very championship mood thanks to LeBron James touching down over the weekend and calling the Lakers his new team.
With the NBA media going wild at the news with every take in the book, ESPN’s The Jump got a huge guest to speak on the show earlier today. It was none other than Kobe Bryant. Host Rachel Nichols was holding no punches and hit the Black Mamba with some of the questions we’d been wondering about the past few weeks.
They started out with the news of Lebron wearing the purple and gold and if he’s talked to him since the decision broke. Overall, Kobe sounded very supportive of King James being in town, especially because he’s been taking slight digs at James on social media. He said it’s all love, and that he wants to see the Lakers win more championships. She also called him out on not attending many games the last couple of seasons and he chalked it up to work and new baby.
Interestingly, he said the Lakers should be patient in their pursuit of Kawhi Leonard, that the young core will learn from LeBron for the future (seeing his work ethic, his knowledge, etc.) and that James can adjust his game and play more from down low moving into the twilight of his career.
Bryant also mentioned the fact that now that he’s part of the Lakers family, he can go to all of the greats for advice on whatever he needs, like many of them did for him when he was playing in L.A. He knows LeBron is up for the challenge and knows about the championship mentality in town.
You can listen to the entire interview above.
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