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Kobe Bryant Almost Quit Basketball If Not For Michael Jordan

By Bryan Rose

Dec 14, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) points during the third quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Lakers defeated the Timberwolves 100-94. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 14, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) points during the third quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Lakers defeated the Timberwolves 100-94. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /
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Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant admits he thought of quitting basketball but it was Michael Jordan who changed his mind.

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As a young child, Kobe Bryant liked basketball but he loved soccer. The Los Angeles Lakers living legend has never hid the fact, but after passing Michael Jordan on the NBA’s All-Time scoring list, Bryant admits he very well could have given up on the game if not for Michael Jordan.

The Black Mamba reflected on passing his muse this past Sunday night and stated that at 12-years-old, he was seriously considering giving up basketball as he didn’t score a single point in Philadelphia’s Sonny Hill Future League.

It appeared to be soccer or bust for Bryant who spent his youth in Italy, but that’s when the Los Angeles Lakers star found out that Michael Jordan was famously cut from his high school basketball team. That adversity, something that has molded Kobe Bryant into the superstar that he is, was much of the reason he stuck with the game.

“I considered maybe just giving up basketball and just focusing on soccer,” Bryant stated. “Here’s where my respect and admiration for MJ was forged. I learned that he had been cut from his high school team as a freshman; I learned he knew what it felt like to be embarrassed, to feel like a failure”, said Bryant. “But he used those emotions to fuel him, make him stronger, he didn’t quit. So I decided to take on my challenge the same way he did. I would channel my failure as fuel to keep my competitive fire burning. I became obsessed with proving to my family — and more importantly to myself — that I CAN DO THIS.”

To think, two of the greatest players to ever play the sport perhaps never would have even made the NBA had they not followed through and fought against the adversity they were facing.

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