“Young fella, If you’ve got my shoes on, you’ll get more buckets!”: Kobe Bryant tickled Tristan Thompson’s funny bone during their first encounter

Kobe Bryant, ‘The Black Mamba’ was one of the toughest players to ever step foot on a basketball court 

Let’s face it, there will never be another Kobe Bryant. His dedication, passion, mentality, the will to never give up and continuous pursuit of excellence separated him from other players in the league.

Fans often compared Bryant to arguably the greatest basketball player of all time Michael Jordan. The game of both these legends had quite a lot of similarities including that beautiful-looking jump-shot.

“What else can I say? Mamba out.”
6 years ago today: 37-year-old KOBE BRYANT scored 60 POINTS, including 15 of the Lakers’ final 17 in his final NBA game.

60 PTS
22/50 FG
6/21 3PT
10/12 FT
4 REB
4 AST
1 STL
1 BLK#MambaDay #RIPKobeBryant 🐍 pic.twitter.com/s7mqthEBXX

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 13, 2022

There have been countless stories of Bryant’s love for the game, him showing up earlier to the gym than his teammates, his serious demeanor on the court and so much more. But ‘The Black Mamba’ had a funny side as well.

Also Read: “I took great pride on seeing Kobe Bryant utilize my Fadeaways”: Michael Jordan had mixed feelings about spilling some of his secrets to The Black Mamba

20-year old Tristan Thompson had a funny first encounter with the Lakers Legend

The No.4 overall pick of the 2o12 NBA Draft, Tristan Thompson got to experience what it was to share the court with Bryant.

Bryant walked up to Thompson and noticed that he was wearing LeBron James’ signature shoes.

“Young fella, If you’ve got my shoes on, you’ll get more buckets”, said Bryant, much to the amusement of Thompson.

“A guy I looked up to my whole life, for him to say something like that to me, especially as a rookie, it made me laugh and it was like ‘These guys are human,”‘ said Thompson. “Growing up as a kid, you view those guys as superhuman. The fact that he said that to me is something that I’ll always tell my kids when I get older.”

The impact that Kobe Bryant had, not just on Thompson, but on his peers, his coaches, the legends of the game, and the next generation of players is something that is truly wonderful to see.

Also Read: “Bill Russell gave me an insight I had never heard before”: When Kobe Bryant reminisced on how his relationship with the Celtics legend began