“Kyrie Irving is the one I’m closest to!”: Kobe Bryant Recounted a Tale of His Mentee as He Looks to Suit Up in Purple and Gold 

Kyrie Irving is the type of player whose game closely resembles that of Kobe Bryant. The Laker legend called him his closest mentee. 

Kyrie’s admiration for a player like Kobe Bryant is no secret. The Brooklyn Nets point guard has always been a huge admirer of the Mamba.

Some will say he even channeled the Mamba Mentality to win a championship, even if it was for a brief period. As Kobe himself recounted the story, we get to see how close the two were.

If you ask Kobe who his closest mentee was, his answer was fairly straightforward. Kyrie Irving. Like Michael Jordan, who looked at Kobe like a younger brother, Bryant looked at Kyrie like his younger brother.

Also read: $2 Billion Kanye West Hangs Out With Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown, the Newest Donda Sports Signing?

According to Kobe Bryant himself, Kyrie Irving did take his advice!

Bryant recounts the story of how Irving called him up and solidified that bond forever.

“I remember sitting at home after Cleveland came back from that 3-1 deficit and beat Golden State, and my phone rings”. He continues “It’s a face time call, I hate face time calls.”

We are not surprised by this and Bryant goes on to add that at this point, only family members are allowed to call him on Facetime, and Kyrie Irving too. He says “don’t face time call me unless it’s family, but it’s Kyrie!”.

Kobe adds “lemme pick it up, and Kyrie is in the locker room, celebrating on face time, he says to me “dude, it worked! your advice worked!”.

Irving also took the time to say hi to Bryant’s daughter Gianna, who congratulated him on the win. Knowing that Irving took the advice to heart and won is probably why Kobe loved him so much. Kobe says that was the moment he knew Kyrie was his favorite Mentee.

As we inch closer to the conclusion of this trade saga, it will be nice to see Kyrie don the purple and gold in honor of his mentor. Stay tuned to this space for more news on Kyrie Irving.

Also read: “Dwyane Wade, Kyrie Irving, or Anthony Davis”: StatMuse reveals who is LeBron James’ best teammate