Los Angeles Times releases final interview with Kobe Bryant

Utah Jazz forward Royce O’Neale (23) honors late NBA legend Kobe Bryant by wearing shoes with his image on them during the game against Portland Trail Blazers at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. | Ivy Ceballo, Deseret News

Bryant talked about his family and youth sports in the interview

Los Angeles Times sports columnist Arash Markazi released his final sit-down interview with Kobe Bryant, which was recorded in October 2019.

What Kobe Bryant said

• Bryant talked openly about his daughter, Gianna, who died with Bryant in a tragic helicopter crash at the end of January.
• Bryant: “It’s a trip to see her move. And the expressions she makes, it’s a trip. You know, the genetics. Genetics is a real thing man. What I love about Gigi is her curiosity about the game. She’s very curious about the game. And even in a very heated situation in a game where it is very competitive and back and forth, she can detach herself and come over and ask a very specific question. You know, which is not common.”
• Bryant said he would rather spend time with family than visit Lakers games.
• Bryant: “I have my routines at home. I’d rather be giving B.B. a shower. Barney songs are the favorite. I have gone through 20 years of the majority of my career with my kids and Natalia and Gianna without being able to have that consistently. So for me to make a trip up to the Staples Center, that means I’m missing the opportunity to spend another night with my kids, and I know how fast it goes, because Natalia is 16, and Gianna’s 13. So that time came and went. So I want to make sure days that I’m away from them are days that I absolutely have to. I’d rather just be hanging with them.”
• You can listen to the audio on the Los Angeles Times YouTube page.

Kobe Bryant’s final interview

USA Today writer Mark Medina wrote about his final interview with Bryant one day after the Los Angeles Lakers legend’s death. Medina wrote that the two spoke in Bryant’s office 10 days before the fatal helicopter crash.

• Bryant: “You got to do what you love to do. I love telling stories. I love inspiring kids or providing them with tools that are going to help them.”
• Bryant: “Our challenge now is taking books and making them into films, feature films and in series, some of which will be animated, some of which will be live action. So it’s figuring out how to do that, while understanding that owning the intellectual property is absolutely essential. And so that’s our challenge. It’s fun to figure out the journey but also extremely frustrating because things don’t move as fast as you want them to. But that’s OK.”

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