The NBA is a competitive business, and it’s nearly impossible to find something that every player can agree on. One with near-unanimous approval, though, is the respect that players of every generation have for Kobe Bryant.
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Kobe was a legend in every sense of the word. He modeled his game after Michael Jordan’s, yet he put his own unique spin on it to become an all-time great himself. Kobe won five NBA titles, pioneered the “mamba mentality,” and in his post-playing days became a mentor to many younger players.
As Kobe’s illustrious career was winding down, everybody wanted a piece of him, but more importantly, everyone wanted him to know how important he’d been to the league and to them individually. That includes Langston Galloway, who at the time of Kobe’s final season, was with the New York Knicks in just his second year as a pro.
Like so many others, Galloway had looked up to Kobe, and when it became clear that he wouldn’t get to face him again, he had to make his move. Galloway gave an exclusive interview to our own Adit Pujari, and in it, he detailed that final encounter with the Lakers legend.
“Obviously, we played him twice that year,” Galloway recalled. “First time, I didn’t know that he was going to retire that year … Second time, we were in L.A., and I’m like alright, look, I got to get something from him.”
The Knicks won that game 90-87 on a last-second Jose Calderon 3-pointer, and though the ending was exciting, neither of these teams were going anywhere. The Lakers famously struggled during Kobe’s final season, eventually finishing with a record of 17-65. The Knicks were no world-beaters themselves, missing the playoffs with a 30-52 record of their own.
That meant little to Galloway, who wasted no time in finding the Black Mamba after he took a quick postgame shower.
“Let me just take this opportunity to go over there and try to just first of all, meet him. Because playing against him is different than meeting him off the court,” Galloway remembers thinking. This is right in line with what others have said, as we wrote just last week about Danilo Gallinari describing Kobe speaking Italian to him and showing kindness to him off the court, then giving him the silent treatment and dropping 61 on him when they played.
Galloway was able to get Kobe to sign his shoes, a keepsake he still treasures today because of “the legacy that he created.” Galloway said, “Most guys, myself included, live by his mantra,” which is what makes that encounter so special.
Kobe touched the lives of everyone he met. More than five years after his passing, time has done nothing to dilute those memories. That’s the legacy Galloway was talking about, and it’s why even now, there’s still nothing that hits like a good Kobe story.
