There’s Kobe, dressed in a Los Angeles team uniform. There is Kobe, the last one in the education box and who is yelled at because the buses are waiting for him.
How appropriate. Just like in the old days.
And make no mistake: Kobe Brown and Kobe Bufkin would be the first two NBA Summer League players to insist there will never be another Bryant. They would never pretend otherwise. But for the first time since the Hall of Fame retired in 2016, the NBA is about to have enthusiasts see guys named Kobe again.
Brown is in the Summer League with the Los Angeles Clippers. Bufkin is entering his first year with the Atlanta Hawks. Both were named in honor of Bryant, who, so far, is the only player named Kobe to make it to the NBA. A few months, that is very likely to change.
“It means a lot,” Brown said. A lot of guys, when they hear the name Kobe, they think of Kobe Bryant. Obviously, I’m not him, by any means. But I try to keep that merit and play as hard as I can, like he did. “
It is knowing precisely how many other people are called Kobe. This is still relatively unusual.
According to the Social Security Administration, there was a six-year era, from 1998 to 2003, coinciding with Bryant’s early years in the NBA and the first 3 championship seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, when the trend of giving that calling to young children reached its peak; The peak was in 2001, when 1,552 baby boys had Social Security card programs filed for them with that call.
The call still had a small audience — perhaps a few hundred toddlers each year — until 2020, the year Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died in a helicopter crash on a foggy Sunday in Southern California. Another 1500 children won the call that year, many of them in tribute to Bryant’s life and career; the most popular call that year for newborn children, according to government data, Liam, which he used about 20,000 times. (There were also variants, such as Kobee and Kobey, and a few dozen American newborns also won the call in 2020. )
“It’s never affected me too much when it comes to playing ball,” said Bufkin, born in 2003. “I try not to think too much about it when I’m on the field. But obviously, using the call comes with an insurance that you have a painting ethic that you have to check to make it fit. And it’s very hard to fit in. If I get halfway, everything will be fine.
Case in point: The Hawks had a Summer League practice this week that was intended to last forty-five minutes, with a little shooting after. Most of the players were out of the area after about an hour and 15 minutes. Almost everyone had taken off. They put on their shoes and were able to head to the bus a few minutes later, but Bufkin was still on the court, executing practices from midcourt in front of a defender.
“I just have to stick to the plan,” Bulkin said.
The popularity of the wonderful Los Angeles Lakers remains overwhelming 3 1/2 years after his death.
Bryant’s jerseys are still not unusual among Lakers fans. Nike plans to relaunch the Kobe logo this summer, and Bryant is the athlete of two editions of NBA 2K24: “NBA 2K24: Kobe Bryant Edition” and “NBA 2K24: Black Mamba Edition. “, “the link is there at 24, which is one of Bryant’s two NBA jersey numbers. And there is some other kind of tribute to the Basketball World Cup; Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards is expected to wear No. 10 for USA Basketball this summer, the number Bryant wore when he played for the national team.
“It shows how much he’s encouraged generations,” Bufkin said. I was kind of a member of the first generation that came with him, and it’s crazy that our parents were willing to give us his name. “
Brown has never been the Crypto. com Arena, the building the Clippers call home, just like the Lakers. It was the stadium, then called Staples Center, where Bryant played part of his games in his 20 seasons with the Lakers, scoring a run. He scored 81 points against Toronto in 2006 and was at home for five championships and 18 All-Star campaigns.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” Brown said. I’m excited to walk into the building, see him, play where he’s played all those years and where he’s done so much for the city of Los Angeles. “
Since they are first-round, Bufkin and Brown appear to be assured to be in the NBA when the new season begins this fall. an NBA player to Isaiah Thomas. Brown decided on the No. 30 overall in Missouri through the Clippers.
They are Kobe Bryant. But they are a new way to bring the legacy of Kobe Bryant.
“It’s an honor, just that so many other people have been touched, like all of us, through Kobe, that other people honor their children and decide on that name,” Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who was Bryant’s agent, said. And we’ll probably see more and more, because it’s something very special. “
___
AP NBA: https://apnews. com/hub/nba and https://twitter. com/AP_Sports