?F This Guy?: Kyrie Irving Shares Feelings over Advice That Kobe Bryant Once Gave Him

Kobe Bryant looked up to Michael Jordan as his mentor and big brother. Likewise, there were some young players who looked up to Bryant. Kobe had a huge impact on younger players after his championship runs. Kyrie Irving was Kobe’s mentee. Bryant had helped throughout, including his initial Finals series versus the Warriors.

After an early exit in the playoffs, Irving has been pretty active streaming games online. In his recent stream, Irving shared the story of Kobe helping him during the 2015 postseason. Kobe was a great mentor to Irving, boosting his confidence.

Kobe Bryant gave wise advice to Kyrie Irving

In the 2015 postseason, the Cavaliers faced the Bulls in the second round. Irving’s left knee wasn’t in good condition. Being worried about this, Irving called Kobe for advice. When Irving told Kobe about his leg, Bryant asked him to focus on what he could do and not on what he couldn’t do.

In game 5, Irving scored 25 points, while playing half injured. After the game, Kobe said to Kyrie “I told you.”. Just having the right mindset going into the game helped Kyrie a lot. Irving said, “F this guy man, this guy’s right, but F this guy. And I don’t mean ‘F this guy’ like in a negative way, I’m just saying, F this guy man, this guy’s right man, this guy’s my hero.”

Irving makes it clear that he did not mean anything bad by saying that, instead he took Kobe as his hero and mentor. Bryant helped Irving throughout and was a great mentor. Coming from winning 5 championships and over 20 years of experience in the league, Kobe knew what Irving should do next.

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Bryant even once shared what Irving was lacking, as he said that Kyrie should push his teammates to be the best player they could be.

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