Kobe Bryant has had a career that most players can only dream of having. For people around the world, Kobe had become a sensation like no other. A well-known personality all around. Basketball lovers, non-basketball lovers, his fans, fans of other players, he was respected by each and every individual.

The way he changed the game after Michael Jordan was unbelievable. There was a time when throwing anything was followed by the shout of “KOBE”. The target might have been anything but throwing something meant shouting out the name of a certain individual. His legacy is like no other. Only a few players have had the privilege to be in the same light as the late NBA legend.

Mike Sielski made an account of how the legend of Kobe began. He wrote about Kobe’s early life and his rise to stardom in his book “The Rise: Kobe Bryant & the Pursuit of Immortality”.

Watch This Story: Kobe’s top 5 inspiring quotes.

Kobe Bryant & Sultan Shabazz – One legend, One could have been

Mike Sielski, a columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, was recently featured on The Philly Factor, where he talked about his book and about Kobe. Among a lot of things from Kobe’s early days, Mike and Paul Perrello, host of the YouTube talk show, talked about Kobe’s close friend, Sultan Shabazz. He was one of the players who evidently had immense potential and real talent. Along with Kobe, he used to look like the next best thing. Unfortunately, things did not turn out that way.

There is a mention of Sultan Shabazz in the book as well. As Paul mentioned, Sultan was “a typical Philadelphia character”. He might still wonder sometimes how it would have. What if things were different? Had things and decisions gone his way, he might have been even better by Kobe himself. 

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“He was supposed to be Kobe before Kobe at Lower Merion High School and it turns out he never fulfilled that promise as a basketball player.” Mike said about Sultan. “He was actually leaving basketball practice most afternoons, taking a bus or a ride to West Philadelphia where he would stand in a corner and sell drugs. Um he went through some rough things in his life, some rough patches in his life um and now is a teacher and a disciplinarian in this Philadelphia school district and has really turned his life around.” shared Mike.

Read more: Kobe’s love for Lakers despite being from Philly.

Both Mike and Paul appreciated Sultan’s openness and honesty. They praised the fact that even if his bad decisions made him lose a promising career in basketball, he did not let them fail him in life. He eventually came around and recovered out of the dark phase of his life. Now he is a teacher in a Philadelphia school.

Would you have wanted to see Kobe and his High School friend, Sultan, play in the NBA together? Let us know in the comments below.