Kobe Bryant played with a ton of different teammates during his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers and of course, he became closer with some than others. One player whom he became extremely close with was wing Trevor Ariza, who was traded to the Lakers in the middle of the 2008 season.
Bryant had a reputation during his playing days of being mean and unapproachable, but he and Ariza grew to have an extremely close relationship. And Ariza described how the two became inseparable during their time together on the Lakers, via Ryan Ward on SI:
“When you have like-minded people that are after the same goal, you kind of mesh well with people, and some people you don’t. He and I were just people who got along really well. Plus, he was a lot older than I was at the time. Coming in as a younger player, he saw something that probably resembled him in ways, and he wanted to make sure that I was able to reach my full potential as well.
“I appreciate the time that he took me under his wing. We ended up becoming inseparable on the court and off the court. We just did everything together.”
Ariza was still early in his career when he joined the Lakers while Bryant had more than a decade of NBA experience. But Bryant saw the desire to be great within Ariza and anyone who is willing to put in the work was going to get along with Bryant.
Bryant is perhaps the most fierce competitor the NBA has ever seen and he was going to connect with players who matched that. Ariza did so with the wing even noting how the two would compete over who would get more steals in each game. But that connection and desire to win ultimately led to Ariza being a massive contributor to the Lakers 2009 championship team.
Some players couldn’t handle the intensity that Bryant brought every single day, but Ariza fit right in and it allowed him to become one of Bryant’s closest teammates, and an NBA Champion.
Jayson Tatum explains Kobe Bryant’s impact on him growing up
Bryant was one of the most inspirational players in NBA history with a number of the games biggest stars today pointing to him as a major influence. One of those is Jayson Tatum, who recently talked about the impact the Lakers legend had on him growing up.
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