Lakers: Jamal Crawford Reveals His Favorite Kobe Bryant Memory
Everyone knows the drive and intensity the the legendary Kobe Bryant brought with him no matter where he went or what he did. His work ethic was on another level and inspired millions across the world.
However, since his sudden departure from this world, unheard stories of his greatness have been revealed by anyone and everyone who had one. Here we are over a year later and the stories continue to surface. Jamal Crawford, who had the opportunity to matchup against Kobe 28 times in his career, dropped another amazing story.
While doing a Q&A on Twitter, Crawford recalled a memory of the two that didn’t even involve them both on the court, but instead Kobe supporting him on the sidelines. During a celebrity softball game in Seattle, Crawford took a shot and invited the Bryant to watch him play in his Pro-Am game that very night. Kobe being who he was took him up on that offer.
“So we were at the softball game, and it was my pro-am game later on and i finally built up enough courage. I’m like ‘Kobe man, will you come watch me play tonight. Everybody thinks you’re coming anyways. Will you come?’ He said, ‘You’re playing.’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘I’m coming.’ And somebody from Nike was like, ‘Nah, we gotta go back to LA, we gotta go.’ He said, ‘No, I’m going to watch Jamal play.’ He moved his plane back. He had him, his wife, his daughters, whole family come watch me play and I scored 63 points.”
The fact that Crawford was able to perform like that in from of Kobe Bryant knowing that he cleared his schedule to watch him last minute has to be special.
“And it wasn’t because of me. I’m telling you. I remember driving over like, ‘Damn, Kobe’s behind me in the car right now.’ I’m calling everybody like, ‘Get to the Pro-Am, Kobe’s coming!’ And so he had that aura about him and that was the dopest moment for me because he had every reason in the world to say, ‘No I’m not coming,’ or ‘I’ll do it another time, it’s last minute,’ and I would’ve totally understood, but the fact that he moved everything to come was unbelievable to me.”
Jamal’s story only adds to the person Kobe grew to be during and after his career. When the Black Mamba retired from the league he spent a lot of time coaching and mentoring players around the league as well as up and coming youth. If only he were still here to continue to spread that wisdom and motivation that touched many people.
