“I Wish Kobe Was Here”: NBA Stars and Fans Remember Kobe Bryant After His Cameo in Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance

“In loving memory of Kobe Bryant,” thus began the fifth episode of The Last Dance- ESPN’s docuseries on Michael Jordan.

Just about a week before Bryant’s death in January, the documentary crew had edited his part for the series. For any NBA fan watching the series, it would be emotional to watch Bryant and Jordan talk about each other. They always had a mutual admiration.

In 1998, Kobe Bryant became the youngest NBA player to play the All-Star game. The discussion in the Eastern Conference dugout then, which had a few legendary players, was about “the little Lakers boy”. “The little  Lakers boy” would go on to achieve big things.

As the Last Dance showed about Bryant and Jordan, twitter was filled with people talking about the late Los Angeles Lakers legend.

“What you get from me is from him”: Kobe Bryant in the Last Dance

Bryant was always vocal about how Jordan helped him grow as a player. In his appearance in the documentary, Bryant said: “I truly hate having discussions about who would win one-on-one.

“You heard fans saying, ‘Hey, Kobe, you’d beat Michael one-on-one.’ And I feel like, yo, what you get from me is from him. I don’t get five championships here without him because he guided me so much and gave me so much great advice.”

Nike and Michael Jordan

Another aspect that Sunday’s episodes concentrated on was Jordan’s shoes. The Nike and Jordan bond seems to be made in heaven. It had a huge role to play in the making of Jordan- the brand, in making him the billionaire that he is.

Yet, at the start of his NBA career, Jordan never wanted to sign with Nike. He had played with Converse shoes in his college days and wanted to sign with Adidas as he came into the NBA. A few, including Trae Young and Alex Caruso, tweeted how difficult it is to imagine Jordan without Nike.