- Report: Lakers have the most interest out of all teams in Kyrie Irving
- Darvin Ham and Rob Pelinka have had multiple meetings with Russell Westbrook, imploring him to be defense-first player
- 3 reasons the Lakers should stay far away from Kyrie Irving
- Report: Lakers make trade for 2nd-round pick in 2022 NBA Draft
- Brian Windhorst says Kyrie Irving joining Lakers for mid-level exception can’t be ruled out
- Western Conference executive says ‘most likely scenario’ is Russell Westbrook going back to OKC Thunder
- Report: Kyrie Irving has had ‘recent contact’ with LeBron James to ‘presumably discuss a potential reunion’
- Report: Lakers considered ‘most significant’ threat to land Kyrie Irving
- Report: Lakers, Celtics and Suns among teams expected to show ‘strong’ interest in Nicolas Batum
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the best hot dog topping: ‘The tears of the 1985 Celtics when they lost to the Lakers in the Finals’
Gary Payton discusses being Kobe Bryant’s big brother while he was going through rape case in Denver
- Updated: March 6, 2021
NBA Hall of Famer and former Los Angeles Lakers guard Gary Payton discussed how he was Kobe Bryant’s “big brother” while Bryant was going through a sexual assault case.
“I caught Kobe when he was going through a lot with what happened in Denver,” Payton said in an interview with Bleacher Report. “I got a chance to be his big brother. I got to know him as Kobe and not as what people were talking about with what him and Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) were doing. Shaq is my brother and I love him to death. That’s the reason I went to the Lakers. To get to know Kobe the way I did was a pleasure. I hate that he’s gone and I hate that he’s not here. I miss him so much and talking to him and my kids talking to him. I love him because he’s a warrior too. He wanted things on his own and he wanted to do things on his own. When he decided to go and say he wanted the team on his own I said congratulations, beautiful. That’s what you’re supposed to do if you want to be a great and he was a great. He didn’t act like he was bigger than anyone. He asked me questions all the time and I gave him answers. It was my duty to tell him the right way to do things and it was a pleasure for me to be in his life and know him the way I did for the forty years he was on this Earth.”
Bryant tragically passed away in January of last year in a helicopter crash.
The passing on Bryant has been felt by the entire NBA world, and Payton is clearly one of the many former teammates affected by his death.
Bryant was always a student of the game, as Payton mentioned, and it allowed him to become a five-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer.
The 18-time All-Star spent his entire career with the Lakers and will go down as one of the greatest players the NBA has ever seen.
Related Posts
About Peter Dewey
