The Lakers continue to struggle and Kobe Bryant has already embarked on the long road to recovery. The five time NBA champion has once again suffered another season ending injury and only has one year remaining in his contract. It’s hard to imagine Bryant’s career ending this way and he might only have one season to go out on his terms.
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Bryant has accomplished everything imaginable in the world of basketball. He’s already established himself as one of the greatest to ever lace them up and has become one of the most recognizable people on this earth. That was not always the case, there was a point where Kobe Bryant was just another person trying to make it in Los Angeles.
Kobe was the best high school player in the country in 1995-96 and he made headlines when he took recording artist Brandy to his high school prom. However, this was 1996 and social media was not the main source of news and gossip. Kobe Bryant was known in Philadelphia, but when we was drafted by the Lakers, he was just another player on the bench trying to prove his worth.
The Tonight’s Show’s host, Jimmy Fallon, was in a similar position like Bryant. Fallon moved to LA in hopes of establishing himself as a comedian around the same time the Lakers took a chance on the kid from Lower Merion High School.
Bryant was a guest on the Tonight Show, which is in Los Angeles for a week and the two reminisced about the first time they met. They happened to be at the same party and they were designated to go on a beer run. Fallon and Bryant didn’t know the area, remember this is before your phone was your GPS. They end up at Pink Dot, which is a store that delivers the goods.
They request to buy some beer in person, but the person there wasn’t having it. That was until Bryant showed him his identification and explained that he’s a “Laker”. Bryant needed an ID for somebody to recognize him and now it’s the complete opposite, he can’t go anywhere without being mobbed by hundreds of people.
At one point, Bryant and Fallon were just a couple of guys in LA trying to get some beer. I can relate to that.
Here’s the full interview below: