November 27, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) drives to the basket past Indiana Pacers small forward Sam Young (4) at the Staples Center. Bryant scored 40 points in the game. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Spor

Pacers' Rick Carlisle Explains Why Kobe Bryant Remains 'Big Influence' on Young Players

Originally posted on Indianapolis Pacers on SI
By Alex Kirschenbaum | Last updated Aug 10, 2025 11:00 AM ET

Hall of Fame former 18-time All-Star Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant continues to cast a wide shadow over the modern league, nine years removed from his last game and five years removed from his tragic passing.

The 6-foot-6 swingman won five championships during his 20 pro seasons in the NBA, all spent with L.A.

Bryant's first title, in 2000, memorably came at the expense of the Indiana Pacers.

Current Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle — the man responsible for helping bring Indiana back to the Finals this summer, for the first time since that Lakers encounter — was on then-Pacers head coach Larry Bird's staff as an assistant.

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During a new conversation with Basketball, She Wrote's Caitlin Cooper, Carlisle unpacked the continued impact that Bryant has had even on modern NBA players.

In that six-game Pacers series, Bryant was limited to just five contests due to injury. But across those five bouts, he averaged 15.6 points on .367/.200/.909 shooting splits, 4.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.0 steals a night.

"I think that there is a perception by young players that growing up watching Kobe Bryant is a big influence of players in this generation, that are coming in, or that they've came in, in the last three or four years," Carlisle told Cooper.

Under then-Lakers coach Phil Jackson's triangle offense, Bryant played in a very different, far more ball-dominant system than the kind of egalitarian, sharing approach that Carlisle likes to run in Indiana.

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"And, you know, most of Kobe's career, he played (significant number of years) in the triangle, and there were a lot of catch and hold situations. The triangle was a great movement offense, but it was based on constant changing of geography on the floor, to make it difficult to ever be able to come and effectively double-team great players," Carlisle added.

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"Those players watching Kobe saw one thing. There was so much about Kobe Bryant to be drawn to," Carlisle said. "For me, it was always the killer aspect of his persona."

Bryant was never a particularly efficient shooter, but proved himself to be an aggressive scorer and rebounder for his size. Across 1,346 career games, he averaged 25.0 points on .447/.329/.837 shooting splits, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists a night.