Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton shared a long-standing association even before their time together on the Los Angeles Lakers. The Glove was shattered by the news of Kobe’s death.
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There isn’t much more to be said about the Black Mamba that hasn’t already been said. The legacy of the 20-year Lakers superstar has been set in stone – quite literally – across the world.
Gary Payton and Kobe were teammates for a solitary season, back in 2003-04. This happened when the Lakers brought him and Karl Malone over for a 4th championship around their Kobe-Shaq core.
While their run together was ill-fated as they lost the 2004 NBA Finals, Payton cherished Kobe as a lifetime friend long after both of them retired from the game.
Gary Payton talks about how the death of Kobe Bryant shattered him at the time
Gary Payton was a guest with VladTV recently. The Seattle SuperSonics legend spoke at length about his experiences with Kobe Bryant, in addition to other topics.
When it came to GP and his reaction to the sad January 26 news, even he revealed how his shock and deep sorrow got the better of him. Payton was supposed to go live and talk about the life and times of the Mamba. But he bitterly admitted that no part of him wanted to be in the studio:
“I was on a plane, and I was going to Atlanta because I was working for TNT. When I got off the plane, my phone was blowing up, and they were like ‘Kobe died’.”
“I broke down and cried. Me and Brian Shaw was together, Brian Shaw was always with us too. We cried for a while, and we had to go on TV and talk about it. I didn’t wanna talk about it.”
It is clear that while Kobe may have passed from this mortal world, his legacy lives on forever through others.
