The Los Angeles Lakers made a pretty surprising decision in drafting Larry Nance Jr. with the 27th overall pick. Considered a second-round prospect by most experts, many preferred the Lakers to go after more popular prospects such as UCLA’s Kevon Looney or Georgia State’s R.J. Hunter.
— Have you seen the ‘Lakers Nation’ phone case? —
Soon after being drafted, an old tweet surfaced in which Nance made a reference to Kobe Bryant’s 2003 case in Colorado. At the BET Experience, Kobe was interviewed by ESPN’s Jemele Hill and responded to the tweet via Baxter Holmes of ESPN:
Kobe on Larry Nance tweet & talking to him about it: “There’s no need. The kid figured it out himself…He sent me a great message yesterday."
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) June 28, 2015
Bryant added that Nance was very apologetic in the message that was sent to him and even said it made him feel old as Nance referred to him as ‘Mr. Bryant.’
Nonetheless, Bryant brushed off the tweet saying that he was only 19 and everyone does things they regret at that age. Many may have expected for Bryant to take it personally and really dig into the rookie once training camp begins, but that doesn’t seem like it will be the case.
General manager Mitch Kupchak said that the front office spoke to Nance about the tweet immediately after finding out and said that anything else would need to be figured out between Nance and Bryant. Now that Bryant has come out and dismissed the seriousness of the tweet, everything looks to be water under the bridge.
[divide]
