When Kobe Bryant was in the mood for having some fun with the media, the former Lakers star was a press conference MVP. He was capable of sitting down and shooting the breeze with the press like it was the easiest thing on earth, which is the kind of skill that never goes away.
This was evident on Monday evening before the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors squared off in Bryant’s jersey retirement game. Bryant sat down and had a fun, multilingual back-and-forth with the media members in attendance.
Kobe has answered questions in English, Spanish and Italian through the first six minutes of his press conference.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) December 19, 2017
The great thing about Bryant is that he’s capable of being really funny, which he displayed pretty frequently during the presser. He had some killer dad jokes that he busted out when it came to his ability to grow hair, and even busted the chops of Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke.
My favorite quote from this Kobe press conference is to Bill Plaschke, on hair: “I didn’t understand your plight years ago, but now I do. “
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) December 19, 2017
Kobe said No. 8 had the ability to do something that No. 24 could never do: "Grow hair."
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) December 19, 2017
He also felt the need to shout out Body Armor, saying that it has taken the sports hydration drink mantle from Gatorade.
.@kobebryant liked that @KlayThompson threw @Gatorade bottle off press table recently considering both Kobe and Klay are with @DrinkBODYARMOR : "I thought it was pretty obvious why there’s not a Gatorade bottle here right now. They had their time.”
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) December 19, 2017
Apparently, Bryant has also going full dad, explaining that he has gotten into a routine that requires waking up super early.
Kobe says former players were checking in on him as he retired to see if he'd be ok. One gave advice on how to cope with the post-playing career depression. "I’m like what the f—?" he said. "I’m good. … The most important thing is finding what you love to do."
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) December 19, 2017
He even gave an answer to which of his numbers, 8 or 24, he would pick looking back on his career with a rather silly reason.
Bryant says if he had to pick between 8 and 24, he’d probably go with 24, because he gravitates toward challenges, and getting through the physical grind as he got older was extremely difficult.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) December 19, 2017
And when he had to lay on the sentiment, Bryant got introspective, letting the press know how important it is for him to become immortalized by the Lakers.
Kobe, on the legacy of his jersey retirement: “to be up on that wall is everything to me.”
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) December 19, 2017
Sure, Bryant isn’t able to produce at the level he could during his peak in the NBA, but the dude is still great when you stick a microphone and a recorder in his face and ask him questions.
