Over the last 20 years, Kobe Bryant has accomplished some truly amazing things. He has:
- Won five NBA titles
- Been named to 18 NBA All-Star teams
- Earned 11 All-NBA First Team selections
- Landed on 9 NBA All-Defensive First Teams
- Scored more points than any other player in Lakers’ history
But in a The Players’ Tribune piece published earlier today—the same one that featured his former Lakers teammates talking about the time he destroyed J.R. Rider in a game of 1-on-1—Brian Shaw revealed what may be Kobe’s greatest accomplishment of all time. According to Shaw, Kobe used to be able to memorize every single lyric on a Jay Z album...within 24 hours of it coming out.
OK, OK, so maybe “greatest accomplishment of all time” is a bit of a stretch. But Shaw said the entire Lakers team struggled to figure out how Kobe—the guy who was focused on basketball 24/7—had time to memorize all of Hov's words. Here’s what Shaw remembers:
Devean George explained it like this:
George also added:
If we had to guess, Kobe was probably getting advance copies of Jay's albums. But still, it's pretty amazing that a guy who lives, eats, sleeps, and breathes basketball had time to listen to them enough to know every single word in a day. Even in the 11th hour of Kobe's career, his legend continues to grow...
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to [email protected].
[via The Players’ Tribune]
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