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“I Wish We Could Have Done…”: Former NBA Player Reveals His Final Conversation with Kobe Bryant

Published 05/05/2020, 3:59 AM EDT

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Kobe Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016. He drew the curtains on his active status as a professional basketball player. His 20-year dream run with Los Angeles Lakers ended, and it was an emotional conclusion indeed. 

The Lakers dominated the 2000s, but there was another side that achieved a similar status as the Los Angeles team. The San Antonio Spurs played in the same Western Conference as the Lakers and proved as a roadblock to Kobe and his team frequently. 

Riding on the back of the superb Tim Duncan, the Spurs won three titles in the 2000s decade. French international Tony Parker played a key figure in the San Antonio squad. He played as a point guard and spent 17 years with the team. 

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Parker was picked first in the 2001 NBA Draft and cemented his status with the team ever since. He was good friends with Kobe Bryant, though the pair often faced off fiercely in the Conference Finals or the Playoffs.   

The 37-year-old recently joined a video chat with Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. He discussed several topics with the host, and brought up Kobe Bryant’s impact on his career. Further, he revealed the last conversation the pair had together. 

What did Kobe Bryant and Tony Parker discuss in their final meeting together?

Tony Parker revealed that his final meeting with Kobe Bryant was at the FIBA World Cup in 2019. “The last time I saw Kobe was in China last year when he was an ambassador for the World Cup. We were sitting together having conversations about women’s basketball and how we can grow it,” Parker began.

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“He knew that I owned a women’s team and was investing a lot in women’s basketball. It’s just sad that I can’t see him anymore. I wish we could have done all that stuff together, because we would have done great stuff together in women’s basketball.”

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Parker is the president and the majority owner of the French Pro A men’s and women’s basketball club, ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne. And Kobe Bryant was one of the biggest supporters of women’s basketball. The Mamba mentored a few WNBA prospects including the #1 pick of the 2020 Draft, Sabrina Ionescu. 

Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy encouraged a lot of female athletes to take up the sport, while he himself overlooked some activities pertaining to women’s basketball. The academy has a women’s team and often conducts tournaments for the same. His daughter Gianna Bryant, who tragically passed away along with him in the copter crash, was an aspiring basketball player. She had dreams to make it to the WNBA.

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Kobe believed in equality of the sport. He had garnered a lot of female supporters owing to his positive comments on the development of women’s basketball in the country. The five-time champion often voiced out his concerns towards the development of the women’s game. He believed in making the WNBA a success, and his visions are being accomplished with every passing day.

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Written by:

Arjun Athreya

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Arjun Athreya is a senior writer at Essentially Sports and has been contributing since early 2020. Having developed an avid interest in sports at an early age, he pursued a Journalism degree and graduated from Madras Christian College. Arjun manages the Golf division and its content, and primarily covers news pertaining to the NBA as well.
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