On Tuesday, Kobe Bryant sat down with Jimmy Kimmel to talk about life after retirement. Kimmel obviously brought up the Lakers, who are 0-3 in their first week with LeBron James, which is why the sillier Kobe stans are already pining for Bryant. "How many games in a row do the Lakers have to lose for you to un-retire," Kimmel asked. Kobe said it would take five, but made damn sure everyone knew he was joking. Kimmel also asked him about his role in bringing James to L.A. and Bryant confirmed he advised Jeanie Buss and even sent her a gif of Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, but he never made any personal overtures to James.
However, when Kimmel talked about Bryant's three daughters (15-year-old Natalia, 12-year-old Gianna, and soon to be 2-year-old Bianka) because Kobe is coaching his eldest's basketball team, we found out his eldest is a chip off the ol' block.
When Kimmel asked if Bryant's daughters aspire to the WNBA (at the 3:15 mark), Kobe didn't hold back. "She does for sure," he said while shaking his head. "I mean, this kid, I tell you man...
"The best thing that happens is we'll go out, and fans will come up to me and she'll be standing next to me. And they'll be like 'Hey, you gotta have a boy. You and [wife Vanessa] gotta have a boy to carry on tradition, the legacy.' And [Natalia] is like 'Oye, I got this. You don't need a boy for that, I got this.' I'm like, 'that's right, you got this.'"
Bryant also discussed how he used to study the referee's handbook to see where refs were positioned on the floor, so he could take advantage of their blind spots for overly aggressive—i.e. illegal—defense.
Bryant's history isn't as squeaky clean as super young Lakers fans might think, and it's hard to escape that truth when discussing anything Kobe-related. But his oldest daughter sounds amazing, and we hope she's—similar to her younger sister—mean-mugging the same a-holes who tell Bryant he has to have a son to carry on his legacy.
