The Los Angeles Lakers are set to honor one of the greatest players in franchise history on Monday with the retirement of Kobe Bryant’s No. 8 and 24 jerseys.
Many of Bryant’s former teammates will be in attendance at Staples Center for the halftime ceremony, including current Golden State Warriors guard Nick Young, who shared the same court with the 18-time NBA All-Star for his final three seasons.
Ahead of Monday’s matchup against the Lakers, Young recalled his encounters with Bryant, one of which involved a pair of Adidas shoes, via Mark Medina of the Bay Area News Group:
Nick Young goes down memory lane on Kobe Bryant. He joked he hopes highlight reel at jersey retirement shows when Kobe called him soft as Charmin pic.twitter.com/ofHU94Z0bC
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) December 16, 2017
Following Bryant’s 60-point performance against the Utah Jazz to close out his career, Young approached him with a pair of Adidas shoes to autograph. The Nike-endorsed Bryant refused and proceeded to throw them in the trash.
Bryant instead signed a pair of Nike shoes for Young, which the latter still cherishes to this day. Young admitted he’s nervous to ask Bryant for additional signatures on Monday, joking that the future Hall-of-Famer would throw his shoes into the crowd.
On the basketball side, the young Lakers look to avenge Young’s Warriors after a heartbreaking overtime loss at the end of November. Monday marks the second contest between the teams this season, as the Lakers look to erase a two-game deficit and get back into the win column.
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