Michael Jordan considered Kobe Bryant his “little brother. This made Jordan want to become the best big brother he could ever be.
In his emotional speech during a memorial service for Bryant, Jordan cried remembering his interactions with the Lakers star.
“Maybe it surprised people that Kobe and I were very close friends,” Jordan said. “But we were very close friends. Kobe was my dear friend, he was like a little brother.”
Moreover, Jordan recalled the times Bryant would call and text him at 11:30 PM, 2:30 AM, or 3 o'clock in the morning. According to Jordan, Bryant would talk about “post-up moves, footwork, and sometimes, the triangle.” In jest, Jordan quipped, “At first, it was an aggravation. But then it turned into a certain passion.”
Jordan was able to cheer up the crowd during his speech. He told them about the time Bryant sent him a text asking about what the former Chicago Bulls star was thinking when he was trying to work on his basketball moves.
"I remember maybe a couple months ago he sends me a text and he said, 'I'm trying to teach my daughter some moves. And I don't know what I was thinking or what I was working on, but what were you thinking about when you were growing up trying to work on your moves?' I said 'What age?' He says '12'. I said '12, I was trying to play baseball.' He sends me a text back saying 'Laughing my ass off.' And this is at 2 o'clock in the morning.”
A better person
Jordan admired Bryant’s desire to become a better person. “I took great pride as I got to know Kobe Bryant that he was just trying to be a better person – a better basketball player. We talked about business, we talked about family, we talked about everything. And he was just trying to be a better person.”
What Jordan loved most about Bryant was his passion inside or outside the court. For Jordan, it is rare to meet people who are constantly motivated to improve every day, “not just in sports, but as a parent, as a husband.”
He ended his speech admitting that a piece of him died when Bryant died. “And as I look in this arena and across the globe, a piece of you died, or else you wouldn't be here. Those are the memories that we have to live with and we learn from.”
