Kobe Bryant provided some insight on his life on and off the basketball court during a one-on-one interview with Jemele Hill during a Genius Talks taping at BET Experience.
Bryant, 36, discussed why some teammates may call him an a–hole, his talk with a new Laker who called him a “rapist,” and why he believes there is no such thing as failure.
Hill asked Bryant about his new teammate, Larry Nance Jr., and the 2012 tweet in which he called Bryant a “rapist.” Nance was drafted by the Lakers with the 27th pick last week. Bryant discussed their first meeting.
“The kid figured it out himself. He’s a kid, man. He actually sent me a great message [Friday], which is really funny. I looked at it [the message], and it was like, ‘This is when you know it’s about time to hang these things up, when your teammate writes you, “Hi, Mr. Bryant.”‘ I was like, ‘What the f—?’ But [he] was really nice and apologetic about what had happened. I said, ‘Dude, listen. We’ve all said things and done things that we regret and wish we could take back. It’s water under the bridge, man,'” Bryant said.
Bryant also revealed why he believes there’s no such things as failure.
“Everyone wants a happy ending. The story continues. If you fail on Monday, the only way it’s a failure on Monday is if you decide to not progress from that. So to me, failure doesn’t exist. If I fail today, I will learn from that failure and try again on Wednesday,” Bryant said.
