Since Kobe Bryant’s retirement following the 2015-16 NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers, one of his many projects includes the ESPN+ show, “Detail.”
And to begin the 2019 NBA playoffs, Bryant has focused on James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Kyrie Irving.
As Bryant is Irving’s mentor, he revealed the latter actually FaceTimed him after the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
With the Boston Celtics playing the Milwaukee Bucks in the conference semifinals, Irving is ‘truly appreciative’ of Bryant breaking down his game, according to Nick Friar of WEEI:
“I think it’s a very unique observation because of how special he is as a human being, first and foremost, and then as a basketball player,” Irving said. “He’s been on the highest of stages, asked to do a lot. So he understands what it takes for spacing, possession-by-possession games, little things in order to be more efficient out there with his movements. So I was just truly appreciative that he gave that to not only myself but to the fans. Not a lot of people see the game like that. Most people study analytics or just dive too much into the game of basketball. Not many people can understand the language of it when high-level basketball players speak it. And I think that he did a great job to try to make it as fundamental as possible.”
As Irving states, Bryant provides a unique perspective on the game of basketball as much of the analysis is centered on analytics these days. Along with Irving, numerous players have thanked Bryant for breaking down their games and helping them improve.
With Bryant dominating his post-basketball career, he denied having any interest in becoming the Lakers president of basketball operations. While the 40-year-old is still involved with the sport, it is clear he has found a new passion in the art of storytelling.
