By Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Sports journalist
Today considered one of the best players to ever play in the NBA, Kobe Bryant had a special history with France. It was there that he would have found the key to winning his last two titles, according to him.
Although he has always held an American passport, he has long been able to consider himself a citizen of the world. Kobe Bryant indeed spent part of his youth far from the United States, obliged to follow his father, Joe, and his travels abroad as part of his basketball career. It is also thanks to this that the former Lakers fullback mastered Italian… as well as a few words of French.
Indeed, when he was only thirteen years old, the Young Mamba arrived in France, and more specifically in Mulhouse to accompany his father. A passage lasting several months during which he was able to discover French culture as well as the beauty of the country. This perhaps encouraged him to make his return almost 20 years later, when he found himself in full doubt after having notably been elected MVP.
The saving awareness of Kobe Bryant in France
At the end of the 2007-08 season, Bryant was going through a certain existential crisis. Just beaten by the Celtics in the Finals, he then had “only” three championship rings and still hasn’t managed to win one without Shaquille O’Neal. It was then that he decided to go on vacation to France with his wife, Vanessa, and he learned a lot there. He tells in a conference for the Milken Institute :
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We were walking around France and the thing that really struck me was how beautiful everything was. The flowers, the trees: everything was beautiful and it made me think. I noticed how beautiful these things were, but they wouldn’t have been as beautiful without the sun. And yet, I didn’t say to myself at that moment, “Wow, the sun is so beautiful.” » I clearly admired the beauty of these things.
In the same way, the sun knows when to disappear. Too much sun would be dangerous, right? It helped me understand how to lead my team. So when I came back in 2009 and people were watching the Lakers play, they weren’t watching Lamar Odom and thinking, “Wow, he’s good because Kobe is there!” or “Kobe makes it better!” » They appreciated Lamar Odom for who he was.
If some may consider this story as romanticized by Kobe, it is clear that his destiny was turned upside down in the months that followed. Returning to the Finals in 2009, this time he won the title he had coveted for so many years, and even managed to repeat this feat the following season. All this, supposedly thanks to the simple enchanting landscapes that France contains.
Devastated following the loss of the 2008 Finals, Kobe Bryant would have found his salvation during a simple walk in France with Vanessa. A story whose veracity remains impossible to prove, but which in any case promotes France and its beauty.
2023-12-08 21:30:00
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