During NBA All-Star weekend in Toronto back in February, a few of Kobe Bryant’s closest friends in the league decided to take the Los Angeles Lakers superstar and his wife, Vanessa, to private dinner.
NBA stars Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul took this opportunity to thank Bryant for all he’s done for them during their careers while also giving the future Hall of Famer a few gag retirement gifts.
Bryant recently talked about the dinner in which his friends gave him a cane, mamba robe, underwear and many other hilarious gifts to send him into retirement, via ESPN’s Baxter Holmes:
“It was great, man,” Bryant told ESPN. “It was really a great night. I saw them come into the league and they were a couple generations after me, so to see these players come up and grow and now being able to stand up there and joke about playing me for the first time and how I’ve inspired them throughout their careers and all this other stuff.
“It was really, really awesome. It was one of those things that I’ll remember forever.”
Following the loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday, Bryant has only two games left in his NBA career. The Lakers will head on the road once again to play their final game away from the Staples Center facing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second game of a back-to-back on Monday.
Bryant will likely receive another touching video tribute during his last road game before taking on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City.
Kobe’s playing career in the NBA will officially come to an end on Wednesday, April 30 with the Lakers hosting the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles. Bryant’s last game is currently the hottest ticket in town with the Staples Center expected to be packed with celebrities, athletes, die-hard fans and some of Kobe’s former teammates.
