'It means you have different ways to get better' - Kobe Bryant breaks down why losing is exciting to him

Kobe Bryant is no stranger to winning, being a five-time NBA champion and a two-time Finals MVP. That said, his road to the top was not a cakewalk, as he experienced being on the losing side many times as well. For the "Black Mamba," though, defeat was never the end; it was an exhilarating challenge to uncover the path back to victory.

"It's exciting," Kobe answered when asked by Lewis Howes in an interview how losing felt to him. "Because it means you have different ways to get better. There's certain things that you can figure out that you can take advantage of, certain weaknesses that were exposed that you need to shore up. So, it's exciting. I mean, it sucks to lose, but there are answers there if you just look at them."

Of course, the 2008 NBA MVP wouldn't trade winning for anything, but he also knows losing is a part of professional sports and that it's something everyone has to deal with. The biggest challenge, according to the Los Angeles Lakers icon, is finding the answers when you're at the top or when you're too defeated to look.

"The answers are there when you win, too, if you look at them. It's a constant process; it's exciting when you win, it's exciting when you lose because the process should be exactly the same. Whether you win or you lose, you go back, and you look, and you find things that you could've done better… how they work, why they work, and how you can make them work again," continued the 1996 first-round pick.

"The hardest thing is to face that stuff"

While Bryant saw something positive in losing, he also admitted it took guts to put your own failures under a microscope. In fact, many athletes couldn't even get themselves to watch their losing matches for years after it happened because they didn't want to deal with the pain. For Kob', it's a necessary step to get back on the winning track.

"I'll give you an example: Katie Lou Samuelson is one of the best college basketball players in the country. She plays at UConn, and she's gonna be a senior. She's from Huntington Beach, out here by us, so she comes down, and she works with some of my girls on the team and she helps coach. They had a really tough season last year where they lost to Notre Dame in the final," related the five-time NBA champion.

UConn is one of the most dominant college teams ever, not just in the women's division. The Huskies never lost a game in Samuelson's freshman year, dropped the semifinal against Mississippi State in 2017 and the 2018 semifinal against Notre Dame (not the final as Kobe said). As it were, UConn only lost two outings over the last three seasons, making the defeat a tough pill to swallow.

"I asked her, 'Have you watched the Notre Dame game?' She said, 'No.' I said, 'Why not?' She said, 'I don't wanna watch that?'" Bryant recalled.

The four-time All-Star Game MVP ultimately convinced Samuelson to give it a try. As Kobe said, Katie was able to figure out where she fell short and what worked for her. She faced and dealt with it, although, unfortunately, UConn lost to Notre Dame again in the Final Four in 2019.

Kobe practiced what he preached

Kobe lost twice on the biggest stage, both times in embarrassing fashion. The Detroit Pistons booted them out in five in the 2004 Finals, and the Boston Celtics outlasted the Lakers in six games in 2008. While Bean wasn't able to face Detroit again after the loss, he managed to eliminate 2004 Finals MVP Chauncey Billups (2009 Western Conference Finals) and Rasheed Wallace (2010 NBA Finals) in later battles.

For the late legend, every loss came with a lesson worth uncovering. It wasn't about failure but about finding the gaps, fixing them, and preparing for the next opportunity to dominate.