Kobe Bryant had a great career, but he’s one of the few players who sustained a great career with one team while wearing two different numbers. On Monday night, the Lakers will retire both No. 8 and No. 24, something that no NBA team has ever done before.
Kobe Bryant explains the difference between 8 and 24
That’s a bit weird, but it makes sense
There always felt like a distinct difference between the Bryant that wore No. 8 and the Bryant that wore No. 24. One was obviously younger and a bit more springier, while the other was really the elder statesman of the league. That bit is obvious.
But, in an interview with Complex, Bryant said they’re like “two different people.”
On No. 8, Bryant said, “you’re literally headhunting everyone.”
“It’s your time to establish yourself and say, you know, I belong here. As a result, everybody must go,” Bryant continued. On No. 24, he said, “Then when you hit a certain maturity level, which is where 24 was, it becomes less about your self domination. It becomes, ‘How can I help others grow? How can I lead a group of guys to get to certain levels as a group?’ And that’s a really big distinction.”
If you’re thinking “OK, that’s kind of weird,” yeah, it probably is. It’s not often that you hear someone talk about themselves as two different people, but here we are. Even Kendrick Lamar (!) had to give Bryant a bit of a look there.
That’s that “wait, what?” look, which is warranted there. But it makes sense, mostly because it’s Bryant. And this is how he achieved as much as he did for so long throughout his career.
It’s a bit weird, but it’s something that we can certainly appreciate and probably relate to. We all grow and mature into better versions of ourselves at some point — Bryant just marked his maturation with two different numbers.
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