Kyle Kuzma was one of the many athletes to be inspired by the great Kobe Bryant. The newest addition to the Washington Wizards reveals an interesting anecdote from his first-ever workout with the Black Mamba.
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Kobe Bryant was one of the greatest players to have played in the league. His sheer competitive spirit and the crazy passion for being the best version of himself at any given time was what set him apart from his opponents. Bean dedicated uncountable hours in the gym to perfect his craft, helping him reach the pinnacle of the game. Because of this, Bryant is one of the most accomplished players of all time.
Being one of the hardest working guys, a lot of today’s NBA stars used to look up to Bean as their role model. The impact and influence the Mamba has on the sporting community are quite surreal. And of the several worldwide athletes who still preach his famous Mamba Mentality is the newest Washington Wizard – Kyle Kuzma.
Kuz is one of the very few privileged players to have played for the Lakers. And during his 4-year stint in LA, he took a lot of pride in wearing the purple and gold. And one of the main reasons behind his love for LAL was Kobe Bean Bryant.
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Kyle Kuzma narrates a story, which he will remember for a lifetime, about his first-ever workout with Kobe Bryant
Ever since Kyle was drafted by the Lakers in the 2017 Draft, Bryant was the first person he wanted to meet. And in a recent interview with “The Players’ Tribune”, the current Wizard narrated a fascinating tale from his first-ever workout with the Mamba.
“So that dinner happens with Kobe, right — the one I was telling you about?? Well, maybe a year goes by before I get the nerve to hit him up again. Finally, though, the next summer I text him like, “Yo, Kobe, we have to work out. I want to get in the gym with you.”
“And it was the same type of situation as the first time….. where I’m hitting him two, three times, trying to get in this workout. He’s a busy man, he’s traveling. He’s doing things. But then near the end of the summer, probably around like August, he hits me up out of the blue. That’s just the type of person he was. He was Kobe, you know what I mean?? He was spontaneous and would just do shit on the fly. So I’m in L.A., it’s Saturday night, and I’m about to go out with a couple friends. Then I get a random text at like 9:45, right as I’m out the door.”
“Yo, fella, meet me at Newport at 8:00 AM Sunday morning.”
“We get into the workout, and it’s literally the hardest workout I’ve ever had in my life.”
“And like I said, it’s August. That’s close enough to the season, where I’m typically thinking I’m in pretty good shape. I’m running, I’m doing hills, I’m doing a bunch of conditioning things. But Kobe’s telling me, “Alright, we’re going to do this move, do that move. We got 25 reps of each movement.” Usually you’re in a gym and it’s like make 10, make 12, whatever. We’re doing 25 of each thing, man. I get done with this workout, I’m completely, completely dead tired. And I thought it was the worst workout of my life because I’m missing shots and stuff. But you know, we finish strong, shake hands and leave.”
“I run into Rob the next day, and he says, “Aw man, Kobe said that y’all had a great workout. He said that you were in really good shape.” And I was like, No f**king way he said that.”
“So funny, man. One little compliment from Kobe, that’s really all it takes. I’ll be telling my grandkids about the time Kobe said I was in shape. You keep stuff like that with you.”
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