Tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers start a three-game road trip against the Dallas Mavericks and Kobe Bryant joined NBATV for an interview prior to the game. Bryant made waves this morning as he blacked out his Twitter avatar after making it “1225” just a few weeks ago.
In the interview, he reiterated that the “1225” avatar was simply because of his dog’s birthday, but why did he black out his Twitter avatar? Bryant attached hashtags of #bearhunt and #blackout to the tweet, possibly hinting that he’d be back November 15 when the Lakers host the Grizzlies and debut their black Hollywood Nights uniform. But, Bryant assures it’s because he likes the color black, of course.
As far as when Bryant will return, as he’s said all summer, he reiterated that there still isn’t a timetable for his return, but did say he’s pushing it more right now.
Bryant also discussed his role in challenging Lakers combo guard Nick Young and said that the differing styles in which he and Dwight Howard approach winning a championship played a role in the Lakers disappointing 2012-13 season.
Here’s the entire interview that Bryant gave to NBATV prior to the game tonight: