The thing is I'm with Nike and I don't want to wear any other player's shoe. No Giannis or LeBron - I'm not going to wear those, and it narrows what you can wear. But with the Kobe's, who cares because Kobe is Kobe. You can wear his shoe because it's Kobe. They look great, the feel great and it represents something.
Huge Kobe fan growing up. My dog's name is Kobe.
That Stash Kobe 1, that is probably my number 1 shoe I have ever worn on the court. To wear it against Kobe in his last game against the Suns it was real fun, and for him to say something to me about them it is crazy. He is signed them up for me and personalized it. It was pretty dope.
I wore the number 24 in high school my freshman, sophomore year because of him. I wore Kobe Bryant basketball shoes because of Kobe Bryant. Every time I laced up my basketball shoes, I felt like I had Kobe Bryant with me. I had a little part of him - I had his jumper, his fadeaway.
I remember watching when D-Wade and LeBron were here playing for the Heat. I remember watching them play the Lakers with Kobe. So I just was able to watch those games growing up and really watch my favorite players.
Growing up in L.A., every kid wants to play for the Lakers. As a kid I went to their championship parades, bought a Kobe jersey - I went to the gym and made everybody call me Kobe - loved Shaq, loved the three-peat.
I played against Kobe a lot when I was in high school during the summers, even in college, just being that guy in L.A. coming up. He always gave me advice here and there, and even the smallest things stuck with me. I watched every single thing that Kobe did, every game, every move. He made me a student of the game.
When I was, like, 4 or 5, I'd just always tell - my mom would ask me what I wanted to be when I got older. And I would just be like, 'I wanna be Kobe.' She'd be like, 'You wanna be in the NBA?' 'No, like, I wanna be Kobe.'
I love shoes. I am a shoe fanatic. I have a special closet in my home just for my shoes.
Kobe is Kobe. He is one of the best to ever play this game. Given the opportunity, he can embarrass you.
When you're Kobe Bryant, you've got every little young guy coming at you every night, and it's you who's still got to carry the team. When he tore his Achilles... I just felt bad. I knew he was going to come back and be Kobe Bryant.
I can't play like Kobe, man. There's only one Kobe.
If everyone had a superpower, Kobe would be the Hulk. Kobe could take on a whole team by himself and he's willing to do that. So, Kobe is like I'll go 5-1, I don't care. I'm still going to win. I put in more work than all five of you guys.
Guys like LeBron, Chris Paul, Kobe... They all speak to me. It's just insane that all these top tier guys who have been in the All-Star game for so many years actually know who I am. I mean not in a million years did I think that Kobe would speak to me.
I think actually it's kind of sad because something I looked forward to just getting to the NFL growing up was just being able to have more fun, the rules loosen up, being able to celebrate.