Kobe Bryant’s death first anniversary is two days away and it’s impossible not to remember the Los Angeles Lakers legend. One year ago, the world lost an icon and the NBA community hasn’t gotten over it yet. Kobe is still present in everybody’s mind and that won’t ever change.
Ahead of this first anniversary, people want to remember him and pay homage to the Black Mamba. One of those was his close friend LeBron James, who had some beautiful words to say about KB24 and the impact he made on the game, the Lakers and the players that came after him. James recently talked about how things have healed for him during this year, explaining that time cures everything and that’s what everybody needs (4:47 mark).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq8nKITonh4
“Man, it’s a saying that time heals all,” James said after a win over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday at the United Center, where Bryant’s idol, Michael Jordan, used to play. “And as devastating and as tragic as it was and still is to all of us involved with it, only time. And it takes time. Everyone has their own grieving process.”
Bron stated that even though Kobe’s style of play was very similar to Michael Jordan’s, he appreciated the Black Mamba and didn’t try to compare him to anybody.
“I only looked at Kobe for him,” James said. “And obviously you’ve seen a lot of the similarities between him and Mike, but I appreciated Kobe’s game for Kobe’s game. The way he played the game, the finesse that he played with, the ballhandling capabilities, the shooting, everything that he possessed on the floor — I respected him for who he was as a player and what he was able to bring onto the floor.
“The fact that he was able to take some things from MJ and look at some of MJ’s DNA and actually be able to do it — a lot of people try to do that, a lot of people wish they could take things from some of the greats, implement them into their game and then be successful, they just can’t. They don’t have the ability to do it. They don’t have the drive to do it, the mindset to do it. But he actually did it and did it at a high level for a long, long, long time. And you can respect that.”
In the end, James left a big message, explaining that Kobe will never be forgotten after all the things he did and that his legacy will live forever.
“There’s a lot of things that die in this world, but legends never die, and he’s exactly that,” James said. “So it’s all about representing that.”
The King is ready to continue his good moment with the Lakers and carry Kobe’s legacy with the team, as he vowed last year. The 2020 NBA championship was dedicated to Kobe and that will continue if the Lakers win more titles this campaign and the next ones. LeBron lost a big friend and the world lost a legend, but he’ll never be erased from this world.
