Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan are two of the greatest to have played the game, and the two had a special bond as well. Bryant grew up idolizing Jordan and copied a lot of his moves as well as his demeanor on the court. They were both assassins who relished the big moments and loved to silence opposing crowds.
While Jordan would end his career with an impressive 6 NBA titles, Kobe looked set to perhaps even eclipse MJ after he won 3 titles fairly early on during his time with the Los Angeles Lakers. After Shaquille O’Neal was traded away from the team in 2004, however, the Lakers’ fortunes took a turn for the worse. They missed the playoffs once and were bounced out of the first round twice by the Phoenix Suns between 2005 and 2007, but things got better once they managed to trade for Pau Gasol.
They made it back to the Finals in 2008 with Kobe and Pau leading the way, but the Boston Celtics and their Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett proved to be too much to overcome in the end. After that loss, Bryant reached out to Jordan and even complained a bit about how stacked the Celtics were.
“Michael gave me some really good advice after the ’08 Finals,” Bryant recently told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck and a panel of fellow retired NBA stars, including Paul Pierce. “[He said], ‘You got all the tools. You gotta figure out how to get these guys to that next level to win that championship.’”
Bryant called them the league’s “first superteam.” After he griped about Boston’s “stacked” talent to Jordan, Bryant said the six-time champion reiterated what he had told him after losing the series in 2008.“[Michael] kind of heard me lament about it,” Bryant said. “He just goes, ‘Yeah, well, it is what it is. You gotta figure it out. There’s no other alternative.’”
Jordan gave him some honest advice right there by stating that Kobe just had to figure it out as he had all the tools at his disposal, and he sure did. Bryant and the Lakers would return to the Finals the following year, and they defeated the Orlando Magic in 5 games. Revenge against the Celtics would come in 2010, as the Lakers prevailed in 7 games over them in the 2010 Finals to earn Kobe his 5th and final ring.
MJ and Kobe only seemed to grow closer as the years went by and Bryant once spoke about a funny conversation they had when they had dinner together. Jordan was also extremely emotional after Kobe passed away and said that he couldn’t bring himself to delete Bryant’s last text messages. The two indeed shared a very special relationship.
