Over the past few years, former NBA players and Hall of Famers have shared some wild stories from their time in the league. These stories comprised playing against some of the best offensive and defensive players in the NBA, some off-the-court debacles and altercations, and some plain old crazy incidents occurring in front of those players. This time, it’s the story of Kobe Bryant and why he wanted to swim with great white sharks.
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Former NBA player Corey Maggette recently appeared on the ‘Legends of Sport‘ podcast. While on the show, Maggette shared some of the stories going up against Kobe Bryant during his playing days, along with the ‘great white shark story.’
Podcast host Andrew Bernstein insisted Maggette spill the beans, having heard bits and fractions of the story. The former Los Angeles Clippers forward mentioned how he got a call from Lakers general manager, Rob Pelinka, inviting him to swim with great white sharks.
Apart from Pelinka, Kobe Bryant was along with him by the ocean as well. A confused Maggette started to call out Pelinka for messing with him until he decided to put Bryant on FaceTime with Maggette. Despite Bryant reiterating that they indeed were going to swim with great white sharks, Corey was still in disbelief.
Until he saw the Lakers legend go in the water to swim with the sharks. While talking to Bernstein, Maggette revealed his two cents as to why Bryant would even think to attempt such a dangerous and frightening activity,
“For Kobe, this was a stance for him and his motto was like, ‘The reason I’m swimming with great white sharks, I want to have no fear. And when I play the game of basketball, whatever I do, I don’t want to have any fear. And for me to have this, I’m going to swim with great white sharks.”
Over the years of his playing career, Kobe’s work ethic has been regarded as one of the highest when it came down to spending hours in the gym, weight room, and film room to hone his craft. A part of his ‘Mamba Mentality’ was eliminating fear like a black mamba.
Black mambas are prone to attacking humans and other animals even without provocation. Bryant found meticulous ways to overcome his opponents on the floor and to have that advantage of fearlessness over his opponents, Bryant was willing to swim with sharks over.
Kobe Bryant’s unorthodox methods of approaching the game
Kobe Bryant is often regarded as one of the greatest to play the game of basketball. His work ethic, and mentality, paired with his resilience to win at all costs brought the Los Angeles Lakers franchise five more NBA championships.
But one of Bryant’s more underrated skills may have been his comprehensive mindset and approach to controlling even the strongest emotions during pressure situations.
One Hall of Famer, who might have managed to give Bryant the hardest time, was Allen Iverson. Despite being an undersized guard in the league, Iverson came out every night and humiliated his opponents. On one such night, Kobe Bryant became a victim of AI’s dominance on the hardwood floor.
Determined to find a weak spot in Iverson’s armor, Bryant set out to find ways to contain the Answer. As per SlamOnline magazine, the 6’6″ guard studied the great white sharks and their ways of hunting seals. So, one could say that Bryant was truly a student of the game. A student, who was obsessed with any and every factor that could help him elevate his game over the other players in the league.
