Everyone dreams of meeting the hero they look up to, for Tim Hardaway Jr, that hero was the late Lakers star Kobe Bryant. For those who are unfamiliar, Tim is the son of NBA veteran Tim Hardaway Sr, a five-time NBA All-Star and a member of the NBA All-Team. Tim Jr followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the big league to follow his dream.

With a big dream, Tim Jr stepped into the league, and as a rookie, he almost had the opportunity to watch his hero the Black Mamba play, but this was taken away from him due to some choices that were made, but not by him. A frustrated Tim recalls this incident like it was yesterday.

Sent to the G-League, Tim could not see Kobe play

Tim was still fresh in the league and was traded from the New York Knicks to the Atlanta Hawks. However, he was initially not allowed to play yet; instead, Tim was pumping out workouts, runs, and drills, as the Hawks wanted to shape him into the player they wanted. In the midst of this, as Tim says in an interview with Tidal League, “They made me go to the G-League.”? It was all the more disappointing for the young player because, around that time, Kobe had a match.

He recalls, “

Kobe Bryant was coming, that was like his, one of his [last matches], like you know, before he actually got hurt.” Missing out on this opportunity was a hard pill to swallow for time who says, “I was like, ‘damn like I could have seen this like, live.‘” Even after this, luck was never on Tim’s side, as he was riddled with bad timing over the course of time.

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Tim never saw Kobe play live

At this point, Tim had already been with the Knicks for two seasons before. Unfortunately, Kobe was hurt during these two seasons and did not make many appearances. The next season, Tim joined the Hawks, but shortly after, he was sent to the G-League, which was also around the time Kobe was up and running again. So the chance to see him slipped out of his hands.

In fact, Tim’s dream of watching Kobe live never came true as the opportunity never came. A regretful Tim says, “Ever since that time, never did, never seen Kobe play on a court not one time.” Shortly after, Kobe retired in 2016 and Tim had to come to terms with the fact that maybe it wasn’t written on his luck to see Kobe play live.

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