“Aaron Rodgers spent $11,000 to watch Kobe Bryant’s penultimate home game”: When the Packers star honored former Lakers legend by sitting court side in the Staples Center

Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers is a big basketball fan, and back in 2016, he made sure to pay tribute to Kobe Bryant by attending his penultimate home game.

Before the 2016 season, Kobe announced that he would be retiring following the end of the season. That set up a farewell tour for the Lakers legend with various players paying their respects to Kobe in various ways.

Other veterans would swap jerseys with Kobe, exchange signatures, and other teams would be pay tribute videos to the ‘Black Mamba’ in that season.

Everyone knew that an era was coming to an end with Kobe’s retirement. He would go down as one of the greatest Lakers of all time, and it was important to show respect to him in the moment. After Kobe’s unfortunate passing in 2020, the 2016 NBA season becomes even more important when it comes down to honoring him in the right way.

Kobe had the most fitting way to go out. In his last ever game, Bryant scored a massive 60 points in a comeback win against the Utah Jazz. Kobe was nailing shots left and right, bringing back memories of his vintage days when he could score at will from anywhere.

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Aaron Rodgers paid $11,000 to sit courtside at Kobe Bryant’s penultimate game

Rodgers is often seen at Milwaukee Bucks games, showing support for his in-state basketball team, but during Kobe’s final season, the Packers quarterback made sure to make the trip out to LA to see the legend play one more time.

Unfortunately, Rodgers wasn’t able to witness Kobe’s mind boggling 60 point game, but he did see the Lakers legend suit up for the second last time sitting courtside. According to SeatGeek, those tickets cost a whopping $11,000. However, for someone of Rodgers’ stature, that much money isn’t too much, especially considering the context of Kobe’s retirement.

Rodgers has drawn inspiration from Kobe in the past. When he was returning from a collarbone injury in 2013, the Packers quarterback drew parallels to when Kobe was coming back from a torn Achilles tendon.

“I read a great quote by Kobe, actually, recently. He was talking about his [Achilles tendon] injury and how when you’re injured it heightens kind of your awareness of that injury,” Rodgers said on a radio show. “But when you get back on the court or the field, it’s all about performing and trying to block that out. I think that’s the easy part when you’re out there. It’s easy to talk about it with you guys and understand the risks. But when you’re out on the field, it’s about performing and playing and not worrying about it.”

Rodgers clearly had a lot of respect for Kobe, and he made sure to show it by attending one of the final games the legend ever played.

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
Aaron Rodgers Green Bay Packers Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers NBA NFL

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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