After retiring from the NBA following his 20th season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant made it clear that he was going to focus all his energy on building up his company, Kobe Inc. Bryant has said, however, that he’s only a phone call away if the Lakers need him, and now it appears Magic Johnson has reached out to the five-time NBA champion.
In an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio on Tuesday, Johnson talked about Kobe and the former Lakers superstar’s desire to be involved with the team moving forward:
“Kobe wants to be a part of it,” Magic told SiriusXM NBA Radio. “He wants to be involved, and I told him any kind of way he wants to be involved. We don’t want him to come into work every day, no. We just want his expertise and pick his brain and also, show me or tell me what’s missing. So then I can say, ‘Okay, hey, maybe I missed that. I’m going to jump on that.’
“He got great ideas, so we’re going to implement a plan where we can have him involved.”
Kobe and Magic were recently seen together at the season opener for the Los Angeles Sparks at the Staples Center, with Johnson sharing a picture on his Twitter account:
Enjoyed seeing Kobe at the game today and watching my @LA_Sparks get the first win of the season! pic.twitter.com/EECQUhjsbm
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 14, 2017
Bryant isn’t the only Lakers legend that wants a role with the organization, as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recently told Lakers Nation that he is also interested in a role in some capacity. Jabbar plans to meet with Magic in the coming weeks.
Along with having a discussion with Bryant about potentially holding a role with the team, the Lakers brass urged Brandon Ingram to reach out to the former face of the franchise this summer. Johnson and company want Ingram to soak up as much knowledge as possible from Kobe with hopes that he can learn how to take his game to the next level.
D’Angelo Russell also let it be known he wants to workout with Bryant during the offseason. There’s been no indication whether either player has made the call to Kobe and if or when these workouts will take place.