The Los Angeles Lakers have been blessed with a plethora of NBA superstars over the years, but Kobe Bryant was arguably the greatest of them all. He spent two decades in purple and gold, performing night-in and night-out to the delight of legions of Lakers fans.
After retiring at the conclusion of the 2015-2016 NBA season, he has diverted his attention to other endeavors but still maintains legendary status around the world.
Bryant, who spent part of his youth growing up in Italy, developed a love for soccer early on before focusing on basketball. Now that he is retired, Bryant has more freedom to travel year-round, and seized an opportunity to visit with French club Paris Saint-Germain and take in one of their training sessions. While there, he mentioned that he has no desire to return to the court, via Mike Slane of Goal.com:
“I don’t miss playing, but I do enjoy coming and watching how some of the best players in the world prepare and how the best organizations in the world prepare. I spent a great amount of time asking questions and try to understand what they do. I’ve been extremely blown away about what I saw today.”
It’s not all that surprising that Bryant doesn’t miss basketball. His dedication to his craft is legendary, and the torturous training that he put his body through in order to compete at the highest level was all-consuming.
As his body wore down the time he would have to spend in the training room only increased. Now, with more time on his hands since he retired, he can do some of the things that he couldn’t during his playing days.
Despite not missing the hardwood, Bryant still has an interest in training methods that are being employed and it’s great that he was able to take in a PSG training session to see how one of the best clubs in the world prepares. He may no longer be playing, but Bryant will never be able to turn off the part of him that is constantly looking to learn new things.