The overflow of tributes that have come in since Kobe Bryant’s death on Sunday have shown how revered the Los Angeles Lakers legend was among the NBA community, sports fans in general, and people throughout the world. A story shared by Mike Tirico about a gesture from Gordon Hayward in Kobe Bryant’s final game also shows just how much the NBA community respected Bryant and looks out for each other.
Tirico, who called Kobe’s farewell game against the Utah Jazz on April 13, 2016, recounted a great story on Ryen Russillo’s podcast about how Hayward worked to ensure Kobe would get the best shot at scoring 60 points in his last game.
Keep in mind that Hayward’s Jazz blew a late lead and lost 101-96. Despite that, Hayward knew to make sure he gave Bryant another shot at reaching the 60-point mark in case the Lakers legend missed his free throw. Bryant of course made both free throws to reach the incredible 60-point mark in his farewell game.
A year later, Hayward broke his leg in his first game playing for the Boston Celtics. Bryant wrote an inspirational message on Instagram for Hayward, advising him on the recovery process.
A month after Bryant’s final game, Hayward offered his thoughts on the contest and admitted they were in shock watching the performance.
We’ve seen other moments where players have tried to help legends achieve incredible feats (think Brett Favre giving Michael Strahan the sack record), but this was something very few people knew about, and hearing it is cool.
More must-reads: