Dwyane Wade Explained How Kobe Bryant Gave Kyrie Irving Hell During a Team USA Workout

Kobe Bryant was an athlete of a different breed. To be the best, one needs the right kind of mentality and mindset. Kobe often referred it to as ‘Mamba Mentality’. Kobe is one of the all-time greats of the game. He was a Laker through and through, and spent his entire career at Los Angeles Lakers. He won five NBA championships with the Lakers, and was deservedly voted into the Hall of Fame last year. Dwyane Wade has played alongside Kobe for the national team. Wade once said that Kobe is ‘about the dirty work’.

Dwyane Wade played alongside captain Kobe at the 2008 Olympic Games. US Men’s national team, nicknamed the ‘Redeem Team’ won the gold medal in the basketball event at the games. In fact, Wade ended the games as the scoring leader with 16 PPG.

Dwyane Wade speaks up on Kobe Bryant going hard in practice

In an old interview that resurfaced recently, Dwyane Wade explained how Kobe gave hell to Irving in the practice sessions.

“Kobe starts on the defensive end. Just in practice today, he got out the rookie point guard, six straight possessions he stripped him (Irving),” Wade said.

“He not about the scoring and highlights, he’s about the dirty work.”

After few injury-plagued seasons, Kobe Bryant retired in 2016. In his final game against Utah Jazz, he scored 60 points. He became the oldest player to post a 60-point or more in an NBA game. However, the Lakers struggled that season and posted 17-65 in the regular season. This was their worst NBA season in history. But the last match was a fitting farewell to their legend, Kobe Bryant. The Lakers retired jersey numbers 8 and 24. In this way, Kobe Bryant became the only NBA player for whom two numbers were retired by the same team.

Last year, during the NBA playoffs, the Lakers wore the ‘Black Mamba’ jersey in his memory. In fact, in the 2nd game against the Nuggets, Anthony Davis shouted Kobe’s name after scoring a buzzer-beater.

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