Since Kobe Bryant‘s retirement following the 2015-16 NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers, he has thrived in his post-basketball career with Kobe Inc. and Granity Studios.
Along with Bryant’s successful businesses, he is still involved with the sport by working out with current players while coaching his second daughter’s basketball team.
As the 41-year-old has been focused on teaching the fundamentals, the wins have eventually followed.
However, Bryant came under fire for his recent Instagram post where he wrote about his team’s journey — highlighted by a seventh player missing a game for a dance recital:
Bryant quickly clarified his controversial post, via Twitter:
Nah fam I was just explaining why she wasn’t in the pic. Most of my kids on the team played and still play other sports including my daughter so it’s all love. Don’t misunderstand the message.
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) September 11, 2019
Doing a dance to miss the game isn’t a bad thing. That’s not what I was saying. I was just giving context as to why she wasn’t in the picture. All my girls play/played diff sports. It’s all good and For the record I followed their lead on not smiling. They HATED those trophies
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) September 11, 2019
Over the past day, there have been heated debates about these comments. As some are trying to twist Bryant’s message, he supports the youth playing different sports and revealed he followed the team’s lead by not smiling.
When it comes to youth sports, one controversy has been about participation trophies. One can make a case for either side, but Bryant’s team was not happy about finishing in fourth place and are working every day to change that.