Perhaps no one has inspired more athletes in recent years than Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who was the embodiment of hard work and dedication during his 20-year NBA career.
During a recent episode of HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks,’ Chicago Bears rookie Rome Odunze was preaching the Mamba Mentality when speaking to a group of young athletes.
The impact that Bryant had on USA Basketball is also well-documented, and that expands to the women’s side as well. Kobe was always a huge advocate for women’s basketball and the WNBA, often taking his daughter Gianna to games as she had aspirations of playing in the league.
The Bryant family built an especially strong relationship with New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu, who embraced Kobe’s daughters after bring home gold for Team USA at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
This gold medal run was not an easy one for the USA Basketball Women’s National Team as they were pushed to the brink by France in the final game before ultimately winning by one point.
When facing a second-half deficit to the host country, reigning WNBA MVP A’Ja Wilson said she channeled some advice from Bryant in order to finish the job, via ESPN:
Wilson is known as the undisputed best player in the WNBA today and also took home MVP honors during the Olympic run this summer.
She is seemingly getting better with each year of her career, and it appears Bryant is playing a huge role in that even though he tragically passed away in 2020.
Wilson wasn’t the only female basketball player to channel Bryant during the 2024 Olympics as Hailey Van Lith said she did the same to help bring home bronze for the USA Women’s 3×3 team.
Allen Iverson includes Kobe Bryant in all-time starting five
When talking about all-time greats in the NBA, Kobe Bryant is someone who often gets overlooked due to playing the same position as Michael Jordan.
One person who is very familiar with Bryant and has respect for his game though is Allen Iverson. The Philadelphia 76ers legend recently put together his all-time starting five and it included three Lakers in Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James to go along with Jordan and Stephen Curry.
It’s hard to argue with that starting five as they have a little bit of everything, being able to dominate inside, from the midrange and also from beyond the arc.
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