Prior to tonight's action, Jerry West provided this video tribute to Kobe Bryant.
https://t.co/jkF6sp8qBN
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 15, 2016
Kobe Bryant played his final game in Oakland on Thursday. The Los Angeles Lakers legend has announced his retirement and as such, he has now played his final game at Oracle Arena.
Before a loss to the Golden State Warriors, Bryant received a video tribute from the Warriors featuring team consultant Jerry West. West, who engineered the trade that brought Bryant to Los Angeles after being drafted by the Charlotte Hornets, spoke at length about what he saw from the young star at 17 years old:
“You could almost feel this incredible determination and desire to compete and excel. Twenty years later, I was right, the Lakers were right, and I see this incredible basketball player with a resume that’s almost second to none. It’s a sad night but a very special night to have a chance to honor someone who has the respect of not only Lakers fans but fans around the world.”
All in all, the video was one of the more chilling moments of the farewell tour Kobe has gone through since announcing his retirement. Seeing one of the legends of the game who was instrumental in Bryant’s career shaping out the way it did is a truly amazing sight. Bryant himself spoke about what the video meant to him (via ESPN’s Baxter Holmes):
“That was a tough one for me to get through,” Bryant said following a 116-98 loss. “That got me a little bit.”
Why?
“That’s what started it all,” said Bryant, who finished with 8 points on 4-for-15 shooting in 27 minutes. “He’s the man that believed in me from the beginning. The conversation that I had with him sitting in the Forum locker room and just being in awe of sitting in Magic [Johnson]’s locker and sitting next to Jerry West talking about basketball. That’s before anybody knew anything. That was special.”
In addition to the video tribute, the Warriors also presented the Lakers star with some gifts:
As a goodbye gift, Kobe received 5-day stay in Napa from Warriors, including dinner at very, very good + very, very pricey French Laundry.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) January 15, 2016
Not too shabby.
All in all, it was a great night for the soon-to-be retired legend, who left the game in the fourth quarter to a thunderous standing ovation from the Oracle Arena faithful:
For the last time, Kobe Bryant checks out at Oracle. #Respect #KB20 pic.twitter.com/u47JiCpOE5
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 15, 2016
