The Los Angeles Lakers have an incredibly storied history, with numerous Hall of Famers having donned the Purple and Gold. Yet, amid the sea of legendary players, two names stand out with near-unmatched legacies in LA: Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. They are undoubtedly among the greatest the franchise has ever produced.
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Magic, who got to see Kobe grow from a late pick in the 1996 draft lottery to a worldwide phenomenon, and since he had a close relationship with the Lakers, he was always close by to see Kobe grow into the man who was loved by millions. They were also very close, bound together by the legacy they both had in LA.
While appearing on The O’Show, Magic revealed that he had many memories of Kobe. However, rather than share any personal ones, he chose to highlight his favorite moments of Kobe the basketball player. Instead of picking something from the peak of Kobe’s powers — like the three-peat era with Shaquille O’Neal — Magic opted for his final game at the Staples Center, where he capped off an all-time historic career with an all-time historic scoring night against the Utah Jazz.
“I think when he scored 60 his last game,” Magic said. “Nobody does that, right? And I’m sitting there, and he just kept scoring and scoring and scoring, and nobody sat down the whole 4th quarter. We were just going crazy. The 81 was amazing, but the 60, at his age, last game he’s gon ever play, nobody in the history of sports has gone out like that.”
Of course, Magic had to pay some props to Kobe’s legendary 81-point night in 2006 and the title he won in 2010 against the Celtics, but he’s always going to hold that 60-pointer against the Jazz close to his heart. Magic didn’t name any personal moment he had with Kobe, but his closing line, “Kobe was just a special man,” makes it seem like he may have wanted to keep those memories private and just for himself.
This admiration wasn’t just one-sided. Kobe was on record claiming that Magic was his idol growing up, and that he based a lot of his game around the three-time champion. When talking to Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show, Kobe called Magic the greatest Laker of all time, despite the older guard claiming that title belonged to Bean himself.
“I grew up watching Magic, and I’ve learnt so much from him, I can’t sit here and be like ‘I’m the greatest Laker ever.’ To me, he is the greatest Laker,” Kobe said. “Without him, I gotta keep it real with you. I stole so much from him that my game wouldn’t be complete without him.”
While the debate over the greatest Laker of all time will rage on forever, Magic will tell anyone who listens that the title belongs to Kobe. It’s a testament to just how much the younger guard meant to both Magic and the entire city of Los Angeles.
