Kyrie Irving shared a moving story about Kobe Bryant and one of the most important lessons he applied to his life.
During his visit to Kai Cenat's 30-day livestream this week, the 2016 NBA champion reflected on the late Bryant's impact on his life while in the league. According to Irving, Kobe told him about the idea of "isolating" oneself to get an understanding of who they are in the world. Bryant was known for not having many friends and separating himself from others all in the pursuit of being one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
For Kyrie, Kobe's approach to life was "transformative" and something that he applied to his own life. He was also enamored by the way the Los Angeles Lakers great didn't want to be seen as a hero and actually wanted people to be better than him.
"2016, he told me to really start isolating myself a little bit more to get a greater sense of who I am and how you have to approach every day," said Irving. "That's the best Kobe story I can give. His approach to life, his approach to the game of basketball was something that was transformative. It gave us a hero to look up to, but he also didn't want to be looked up to as a hero. He wanted to always let you know 'You want to be better than me. Don't try to strive to be where I'm at try to strive to go past.' If you can't go past, then keep striving for your own goals."
Irving continued, "Let's not forget people were on the Kobe hate train for awhile. He wasn't the always most favorite athlete. I know some of you guys have your favorite athletes here, and you'll go to bat for them. But Kob is like one of those ones that made it out the fire. Media turned on him, fans turned on him and to be a Kobe fan when you were young during those times you really had to have those tough conversations."
Irving added that he also asked Kobe how he dealt with all the drama that surrounded him in the mid to late 2000s, from his sexual assault case to his beef with Shaq, and more.
"So I asked him all those questions like how he dealt with it mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, how he really got closer with his wife and his kids, how he was more open to life when he left the league because he didn't have to be competitive with us anymore," said Irving. "Kob always split the line. He wasn't close with anybody, he wasn't working out with anybody in the summer, he would only give a few people the information that were willing to listen."