“That was my favorite player growing up, that was a mentor of mine, that was somebody I looked up to, I could go to for advice. For me, Kobe, he was everything to me.” DeMar DeRozan honored the 5x NBA champion during his anniversary earlier this year via Chicago Tribune. The Los Angeles native grew up as a fan of Kobe Bryant and managed to establish a lifelong connection with him off the court. He received advice on many occasions, but the current Sacramento Kings player stated why it was important to uphold Kobe’s legacy.

In the final episode of Season 2 of the Podcast P with Paul George, DeRozan expressed his emotions about representing Kobe Bryant. He said, “I remember being in the All-Star games with Kobe, knowing like, you know, Kobe was on his way out and it’s like, how can I still honor his hard work by being around and doing this consistent, you know, leadership that I’m trying to follow as well.”

Deebo was around 15-16 when attended the Kobe Bryant camp. So naturally, he molded his game around the Los Angeles Lakers legend. When he entered the league at the age of 20, the relationship gradually changed from idol to mentor. During that time, DeRozan learned the Mamba Mentality and even applied it to his games. Last season, he joined Kobe as the only player to score 400+ points in Q4 and 50+ points in overtime.

Even now, DeRozan only wears Bryant’s line of shoes during games as a small reminder of his mentor’s impact on his career. The love started during his high school days when he received a pair of Kobe 1s as an overwhelming gift. “All through high school, I had so many Kobes after every game I was throwing in the crowd,” he recently stated on the Club 520 Podcast.

The 6x All-Star received many shoes and a good deal of advice from Kobe Bryant. One such piece of advice that stuck with him was about his footwork. While imparting one such piece of advice, Kobe Bryant praised soccer players and unintentionally dissed Andre Miller.

Kobe Bryant knew the pulse of the game

While speaking to Jeff Teague, DeRozan spoke about how Kobe Bryant helped him improve his footwork, “Yeah, I definitely got a lot of that came through conversations with him of just breaking down like he was a big soccer fan.” DeRozan continued that Kobe Bryant incorporated some of the soccer players’ techniques to get leverage and be quicker than the opponents.

The 2x Finals MVP also told him to watch certain types of NBA players. Recalling the same, the 35-year-old said, “Like Andre Miller, for example, not the fastest, can’t jump the highest then that. But he knew how to maneuver in small places to get a shot off or get to the bucket and everything.” During his 17-year career, Miller had his fair share of battles with Kobe Bryant. Although he never posted elite scoring numbers, his technique left a mark on 18x All-Star. The same thing Kobe passed on to DeRozan to not to be fixated on big names but to focus on techniques.

And DeRozan did just that as he scored a whopping 23,582 points on the all-time list. Thus, making him the 31st on the scorers’ list amongst all the NBA players. Currently, he sits 6th on the list of active NBA players. Additionally, he has managed to score consistently, with an average of 21.2 last season while maintaining an overall average of 24 points per game. The majority of this was possible because of his hard work and the ‘Mamba Mentality’ lessons from Kobe Bryant.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.