LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers speaks to honor Kobe Bryant before the game against the visiting Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center in Los Angeles, U.S., January 31, 2020.
LeBron James said he never saw Kobe Bryant happier than he was in retirement with family. He said players should never feel bad about putting family first.
The Los Angeles Lakers forward met with the media behind sunglasses and alongside Anthony Davis, the other heir to Bryant's throne atop the Lakers, after the first Lakers game since Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others died in a helicopter crash on January 26.
James had a conversation with his wife earlier in the week in which he came to a startling realization about Bryant, long known as a relentless competitor who would sacrifice nearly anything to be the best at his profession.
"These last three years, out of all the success he had – five rings, multiple MVPs, All-Star Game MVPs, first-team everything, all-life, all-world, all-basketball – it felt like these last three years was the happiest I'd ever seen him, being able to just be with his daughters, with his family," James said of Bryant's retirement.
The Staples Center of Los Angeles Lakers displays words in memory of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi in Los Angeles, U.S., January 31, 2020.
"When we're playing this game of basketball, we give so much to it, and this is my 17th year, so I know. We give so much to it where, unfortunately, your family comes to the wayside at times. Because when you want to be great at something, and you want to be the best, and you become so driven that you won't let nothing stand in the way of it. Not even your own family sometimes."
"That's the difficult part as we deal with it, as a professional athlete. Yes, it a beautiful game, it takes us all over the world, it has given us so many things that we can never ever complain about, or never ever in another position that we can get.
"Don't feel bad if you happen to go to one of your loved ones or events, or something like that.
"Yeah, that's a good twist, but in the name of Kobe, why not?"
Prior to the game, James delivered an emotional speech honoring his "brother" Kobe Bryant. He began by reading the names of all nine victims of the tragedy and then throwing a piece of paper containing his prepared remarks on the court.
"Laker nation, man, I would be selling you all short if I read off this shit so I'm going to go straight from the heart," James said to a raucous applause from the sold-out crowd at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
"I know that at some point we will have a memorial for Kobe, but I look at this as a celebration tonight," he told the crowd, referring to them as "family."
LeBron James passes Kobe Bryant for third on NBA's all-time scoring list after a Lakers game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, U.S., January 25, 2020.
"This is a celebration of the 20 years of the blood, the sweat, the tears, the broken down body, the getting back up — the determination to be as great as he could be," he said of Bryant, who played 20 seasons with the Lakers, 18 as an all-star, and won five NBA championships.
"Tonight we celebrate the kid who came here at 18 years of age, retired at 38 and became probably the best dad we've seen over the last three years," he said of Bryant, who has four daughters with wife Vanessa.
"Kobe is a brother to me ... and throughout my career, the one thing we shared was that determination to win and be great.
"Along with my teammates I want to continue his legacy not only for this year but as long as we can play the game of basketball that we love because that's what Kobe Bryant would want.
"So in the words of Kobe Bryant, Mamba out," he said, referring to Bryant's famous sign off after his final game as a Laker in April 2016.
"But in the words of us, not forgotten," he said.
"Live on brother."
(With input from AP and Reuters)