Kobe Bryant Gifted Klay Thompson A Copy Of His Book And Wrote: 'Rings, Rings, Rings, Rings'
When Klay Thompson was competing for his fourth NBA title with the Warriors during the 2018-2019 season, Kobe Bryant gave Thompson, a three-time champion, a copy of his book "The Mamba Mentality: How I Play" with a special inscription.
Wrote Bryant: "Rings, Rings, Rings, Rings."
Thompson fell short of winning his fourth title that season, with the Warriors losing to the Toronto Raptors in six games in The Finals. Kevin Durant sustained a ruptured Achilles tendon in Game 5 of that series, and Thompson suffered a torn left anterior cruciate ligament in Game 6.
Thompson grew up admiring Bryant, who died Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, five-time NBA champion, two-time Finals MVP and one-time regular season MVP in 2008.
Thompson's father, Mychal, who won two championships with the Lakers in 1987 and 1988, introduced his sons to Bryant in the team's locker room in 2001, but he said Thompson, who was 11 years old at the time, was too nervous to approach his idol.
"Klay was too shy to go back there to meet him," Mychal tweeted in January.
Years later, Thompson went on to attend Bryant's Skills Academy when he played for his high school basketball team at Santa Margarita Catholic. He posted a photo three weeks ago of Bryant sitting in a chair speaking to the teenagers at that camp.
"One of the greatest experiences of my life was being able to participate in the goats 🐐 skills academy back in HS," Thompson wrote on Instagram in May. "I was so star struck the whole time and couldn’t believe I was on the same hardwood as Bean."
Bryant stayed involved in Thompson's life.
After Thompson was suspended for a game at Washington State because of marijuana possession, Bryant sent him a text message encouraging him to move forward.
“He said, ‘Forget about that,’ said it with a couple expletives, and ‘just go out there and kill,’” Thompson told reporters in 2016.
And after Bryant played his final game against the Warriors before retiring in 2016, he gifted Thompson his jersey with a message written on it: "To Klay, it’s been a pleasure watching you grow into the player you are! Keep going!”
Thompson attended Bryant's public memorial at Staples Center on Feb. 24 nearly a month after he died alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people as they were headed to the Mamba Sports Academy.
The following day, Thompson wrote an Instagram post about how devastated he felt.
"No amount of words can express how much Kobe meant to me and my family," Thompson wrote Feb. 25. "Growing up, he was my favorite player on my favorite team. Like so many of you, it has been hard for me to process what happened and what was lost."
He added that Bryant deeply impacted so many people, including himself.
"There is not a day that goes by I don’t think about you Big Bro," he wrote. "Rest in peace Mamba and Mambacita. Your legacies will live on, not only thru every hooper who love the game, but with anyone who has a dream and the passion to do whatever it takes to make it a reality."
