Since Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant retired after the 2015-16 season, he is let it be known that he is just a phone call away to either give help to the organization, or to workout with players.
A few NBA players like Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward took Bryant up on that offer last summer, but there has been no reports of current Lakers players working out with Bryant.
This summer will be a big one for the development of the Lakers young core, as after improving from 17-65 in 2015-16 to 26-56 last season, they will look to take the next step in 2017-18 and compete for a playoff spot.
To do that the players will need to work hard this summer, and working out with Bryant may be exactly the way to do that. In a recent interview with ESPNLA, Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson said that players have already began reaching out to Bryant to workout:
"Some of the players have reached out to work out with him, everybody knows he is famous for his workouts" @MagicJohnson on Kobe & the team
— ESPNLosAngeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) May 24, 2017
Since becoming the president of basketball operations in February, Johnson has talked about possibly bringing Bryant in to the organization in more of an official role. While that has not happened, Johnson said he is still in constant communication with Bryant to pick his brain:
"Right now we are just picking his brain about the players & what he sees we could do" @MagicJohnson on Kobe's current involvement w/ Lakers
— ESPNLosAngeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) May 24, 2017
After the season, Brandon Ingram said that the Lakers front office told him to work with Bryant this offseason. Additionally, D’Angelo Russell also said that he planned on contacting Bryant this summer.
Though it is unknown exactly who has been in contact with Kobe it is good to see that the young Lakers are looking to improve this summer and learning some things from Kobe is a great way to do so.