To remember the life of Kobe Bryant five years following his heartbreaking passing, I spoke with Larry Nance Jr., who was a rookie during Bryant’s last season in the NBA.
Below are some snippets from the latest episode of my podcast. To open our conversation, I joked with Larry about how he and Kobe “combined” to score 68 points in Kobe’s final game:
Larry: Look, the 60 was a nice appetizer, but my eight was the meal we all came for. You know, honestly, what a special night. Truly. I mean, that was a really hard year. We had so many young guys there, we won 17 games. But the joy on people’s faces when they got to see Kobe in person for what they realized was the last time is just something I’ll never forget. I’ve done some cool things in my career, hopefully I can do some more cool things, but I can’t imagine what could take the place of that 60-point game. In terms of historic nights, I can’t imagine what could take the place of that.
Kevin: What was the first thing on your mind when you were drafted by the Lakers and knew you’d be a teammate of Kobe Bryant?
Larry: That was the one guy that you just knew like, “I can’t piss this guy off.” At that point, the older generation of players was kind of on the way out, but like, Kobe still had that mentality. KG was still in the league. There were certain guys that you just don’t mess with. And so the first thing, the first thing, all of us were just like, all right, how do I get on this guy’s good side? How do I stay? What do I have to do for this guy to just not put me in his sights? And I found that out pretty easy. All he asked of us was everything we had. That was it. And I can do that. Anybody can do that. No, he didn’t ask you to be a superstar. He didn’t ask you to make every shot. He just asked you for whatever you got, I need it all. I need whatever you got. 100% of it. And that’s how I got on the court my rookie year. It was just like defense and playing harder than anybody else. And I feel like we bonded over the fact that every possession we were both just trying at 100%.
Kevin: Was there ever an instance that season where you did see the wrath of Kobe?
Larry: One of those games we were down by 30 immediately. We never had a sniff of chance, like it was over. He didn’t play, but he was with us on the trip. And I’ll never forget, like Byron Scott was talking to us in the locker room afterwards and was just kind of like, “Hey this is the NBA. There’s no easy nights like you guys are the easy night right now. It’s us. We’re the easy night. You got to prepare for that.”
Scott then turned to Kobe and asked what he had to say for the team.
Larry: I was ready for my lashing. At that time I was signed to Adidas. But there were a few guys that were signed with Nike and were wearing Kobes. He goes, “You, you, you, you, you,” and pointed at everybody with Kobes. “Take ‘em off, put ‘em in the trash, leave them here. You’re never wearing those again.” And it was a moment of like, “Haha funny.” And then it became very, very, “He is not kidding.” And so the guys that were wearing them took them off and put them in the trash can. They were never to be worn again.”
Kevin: Poor Nick Young, huh?
Larry: Speaking of Nick Young, before the last game and after that game, Kobe was, he was just incredible with us as teammates. Like he would sign, if you asked for anything signed, he would just, “Of course, man, absolutely.” So there was a line of us after the game, just we had our stuff. We had our stuff. “Could you sign this for me? Can I get a picture?” We’re all fans at the end of the day. After me was Nick Young, who notoriously signed with Adidas. And he would wear Kobes, he would wear Crazy 8s. And that was the only time Nick was like, “Hey man, can I get you to sign these?” And handed him the Crazy 8s and Kobe was like, “Man, get these out of my sight,” and put them in the trash can himself. It was such a funny moment because Nick and him always had that banter back and forth. Nick had a jersey, too, and Kobe signed that for him, but it was just like a funny moment of like, this really is your guys’ relationship, it is a nonstop joke.
Kevin: The first game you played following his death there was footage of you, tears in your eyes, crying on the bench. What do you remember about that game in particular, how hard it was to play that game?
Larry: I’m not an emotional person. I hate that that is out there.
Kevin: It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with being vulnerable and feeling.
Larry: No, you’re right. I’m just not an emotional, like, crier. When I found out, I didn’t cry, it was just a very solemn feeling that I got. But it hit me during the national anthem. We had a moment of silence and it just ate me up. I hadn’t cried to that point. It just happened. I can’t tell you what happened in the game. I don’t know whether we won or lost. I don’t care. There was just something bigger going on. When we played the next home game, for the first half, I saw a few guys doing it, and I wore 24 for the first half. And I’ve still got that jersey just because it meant something to me. I don’t even know how well I played. Doesn’t matter. It meant something to me. So that’s hanging up in my house.
Larry and I went deeper into our respective upbringings watching Bryant. Like many NBA fans, both of us had our phases hating him before growing to love and admire him. Larry had a great story about that, among others that you can watch or listen to on The Kevin O’Connor Show.
