Jeremy Lin recently recounted a farewell moment he shared with Kobe Bryant when both of them played for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lin spoke on current Lakers star Danny Green’s podcast, “The Green Room,” about one of his most memorable moments with Kobe Bryant.
The moment happened during a practice in the 2014-2015 NBA season. Lin ended up getting traded from the Lakers that season along with a few other teammates.
And Kobe Bryant let him know it was happening.
Here’s how Lin tells it:
“We hadn’t seen him in a few weeks. All of a sudden he walks in the gym, and this is the day before the trade deadline. ...
He comes in … sweatsuit, he has a sling for his hurt shoulder, and he has these shades on … and Carlos Boozer says ‘Kob, good to see you bro … we haven’t seen you in a bit, how come you came today’ and (Kobe) was just stonefaced, and he was like ‘I just came by to say bye to some of you bums who are going to get traded tomorrow.”
Of course, Lin laughed at the moment during the podcast with Green and Harrison Sanford, a co-host of the podcast. It was meant as a heartwarming moment to honor Bryant, who passed away in a helicopter crash in January 2020.
But here’s some context. According to CBS News, “even if the comment was both harsh and on-brand as hell for Kobe, it’s hard not to understand a bit where Kobe was coming from. Lin and Bryant were teammates in Los Angeles in the 2014-15 season. That year, the Lakers went 21-61. It’s hard to imagine any superstar player being buddy-buddy with their mediocre teammates after a year like that.”