Kobe Bryant’s connection with the current stars is unmatched! Players like Kyrie Irving, Paul George, and Jayson Tatum, amongst others, have always highly spoken about the Lakers legend’s impact on them personally. One other player who has been part of the league for 16 years is Taj Gibson. His connection with Kobe is not only related to the NBA. In fact, the Hornets star recently spoke about the bond with Black Mamba that can be traced back to his USC Trojans days when the team took some of the Kobe shoes.
Taj Gibson played his college ball at USC and got to know Kobe Bryant behind the scenes. “I remember we was at SC (trojans), I remember we was playing in the PAC-10 tournament and we were in the Laker locker room. As a young hooper you go in the Laker locker room, you just looking like ‘Where’s Kobe’s locker?‘” During his conversation with Brad Parker, the 39-year-old NBA star spoke about being in the Lakers locker room during his time with the Trojans.
Since they were all fans of Kobe, they started looking around for some merch, and one guy found it. “‘Oh my God it’s Bean!‘” The players then took those sneakers home but had to return them the next week. Gibson narrated how the then-strength coach Rudy Hackett asked the players to return all those shoes. It was not just one or two pairs, there were close to 20 pairs of the sneakers. Even Gibson was taken aback by what he and his teammates had done. “I’m like ‘Damn, we robbed them‘”.
Gibson who spent 8 years with the Bulls had his fair battles with Kobe Bryant. That’s when the Lakers legend revealed about the USC and Nike partnership. “Very next year we got Kobe USC color USC colorway. Even after all that stuff we went through every time he came to Chicago my first couple years in the NBA, he’s like ‘I know I had to take care of y’all man. I know y’all wanted some kicks.’”
Kobe Bryant and Taj Gibson’s connection
The tradition even continues today, as USC is part of the six schools that are the first basketball programs to be considered “Mamba Schools.” The other 5 schools are Kentucky, Connecticut, Oregon, LSU, and Duke. When Kobe Bryant retired, Gibson shared the heartwarming nature of the Lakers legend. “One of the best players to ever play the game.”
Gibson said he dined with Bryant in group settings occasionally and Bryant always made sure USC had the latest model of his signature basketball shoes.”I’m just happy that I was able to play against him a couple times. Had great talks with him at dinner about the game … Just a great guy. A superstar. Every time people heard about Kobe, from barbershops to street basketball corners, the city of LA loved Kobe.”
A young Gibson played for USC and dreamed about making it to the NBA. After 16 seasons, he is still going strong, and one of his fondest memories is of Kobe Bryant. The Trojans team took the shoes out of love and respect for the Lakers’ legend! Black Mamba understood and made sure the team and the school had fresh Kobe shoes in USC colorways.
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