Kobe Bryant Once Tried to Persuade Michael Phelps Out of Retirement: “Just One More Time?”

The victory of Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics 2008 was incredible. He achieved the unthinkable by winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics 2008. However, during that time, NBA star Kobe Bryant was racking up wins and won the championship in 2009.

But, Phelps retired after the 2016 Rio Olympics, bidding goodbye to an illustrious career.

Like everyone, fans missed the intense slaps on the back and dominating races from start to finish. Everyone thought he would make a comeback, after that. Black Mamba also tried his luck to persuade Phelps to come back out of retirement.

Kobe Bryant tries to convince Michael Phelps

It happened in 2017 during the Golden Goggles award show when both Phelps and Bryant took the stage to felicitate the sensational Katie Ledecky. Bryant couldn’t resist asking him to come back out of retirement. Kobe attended the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won the Gold Medal with the NBA team.

In the show, Kobe also mentioned that he attended Phelps’ races. Wanting him to come out of retirement for maybe one last race, Kobe, henceforth, put forward a tough question. “It [representing the United States] never gets old. That being said since it never gets old, would you like just one more time?” asked Kobe.

Bryant spoke to him about being in better shape and that he can produce great performances, even after he comes back. But, this time, he was done. Phelps dismissed any chances of coming back and spoke about watching the competitions from the stands. Bryant even talked about the number of medals that Phelps had and wondered how he put that upon his neck.

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Phelps took advice from Bryant

After that, they developed a bond with each other because of the connection they received. Phelps won a total of 28 Olympic medals in his career while Bryant is a two-time Olympic Champion and a five-time NBA champion. Thus, after he retired from the sport, Phelps sought advice from Kobe Bryant for building his brand. Bryant developed new business after his career, which flourished into sensational ventures.

“Kobe is somebody who’s been super fun to kind of pick his brain a little bit about some things,” said Phelps.

Despite all the efforts by Bryant, Phelps decided to not come back from his retirement and ended his career on a high. Both of them retired on a high as Phelps won five gold medals at his final Olympic appearance while Kobe Bryant scored 60 points in his last game. True legends of their respective sport.

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