When the basketball world came to a stop
Curry, Kerr remember Bryant as anniversary of his death approaches
It’s been nearly a year since Kobe Bryant — along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant and seven others — died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.
Given everything that has happened in the world since Jan. 26, 2020, the approaching one-year anniversary either came in a flash or took an eternity.
Either way, it was a tragic and seismic moment in NBA history amid a year that included too many such moments.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr and star Stephen Curry were asked to share their remembrances of Bryant and the day he died, with the anniversary fast approaching and the Warriors taking on the Lakers for the first time this regular season tonight.
“We were just starting practice,” Kerr said. “We have a regular warmup routine that we do and we had just gotten into the warmup when (Warriors assistant coach) Jarron Collins came over to me and whispered the news in my ear. A couple of other people on our staff whispered it to some of the players.
“We were all like deer in the headlights. Frozen. We all tried to absorb the news. Everything stopped. The music stopped. Players stopped. Nobody said a word. ... A lot of guys dropped to the floor and started crying. Nothing happened for 10 minutes. We just sat there in silence.
“It was one of the worst moments of all of our lives. I don’t think any of us will ever forget that day.”
Curry won’t.
“I’ll remember that day for the rest of my life. I was coming back from injury, but I got to participate in practices that day,” Curry said. “On the sidelines, you could see the body language change immediately. Practice just kind of came to a halt.
“A lot of reflection, sadness — an overwhelming moment for sure. You didn’t want to think it was true. It was a tough day for the whole world, for the whole basketball world.”
For Curry, the anniversary snuck up on him.
“It’s surreal. It’s still hard,” Curry said. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been a year since it happened.”
Both Curry and Kerr faced Kobe as players, a statement in itself about Kobe’s career. Kerr is 55 years old. Curry is 32.
The first Kerr-Kobe meeting came in 1996, LakersBulls.
“I just remember him asking Michael Jordan all these questions on the court the whole time. They were guarding each other on each end, and I could see that he was trying to get pointers,” Kerr said.
“(Bryant) was, obviously, nowhere close to the player he became, but he clearly had the audacity to think he was going to be Michael Jordan. He was asking ... and Michael was (answering).
“You could see that he had a ton of athleticism and skill, but I think what ultimately made him who he was that audacity to ask Michael Jordan for pointers in his very first game against him.”
“Think about most 18-year-olds. They’d be scared to death to go against Michael. And he was just inquisitive. Pretty remarkable.”
Curry didn’t have that kind of audacity the first time he faced Bryant as a player. It was in a preseason game against the Lakers at the Forum in Inglewood.
“I got switched onto him in a (isolation) situation — scrawny 170-pound rookie, and the look he gave me was so damn disrespectful,” Curry said. “At that point, I could get starstruck a little bit. Not many guys could make that happen, but Kobe was one of them. (But) with my competitive nature, I felt like I could get a stop on that possession.”
“I thought wrong. He had all the tricks in the book to take advantage of a rookie like that.”
Curry called it his “welcome-to-the-league” moment.
A few years later, Curry hit a deep 3-pointer on Bryant in another preseason game — memorable only by what followed. On their way back down the court, Bryant gave the kid a congratulator slap on the backside.
“It was a pretty crazy full-circle moment,” Curry said.