Despite already being retired, Joe Bryant could still watch his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, live at the Spectrum. When the Chicago Bulls visited the Sixers during games on March 8, 1992, Joe delighted his son, Kobe, by taking him to the arena to meet one special player – Michael Jordan.
At the time, Kobe was just 13 years old, and most people his age would’ve been either starstruck, shocked, or intimidated by MJ. However, as author Mike Sielski vividly described in his book, “The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality,” Jordan gave young Bryant a wristband, but none of the above was evident in the youngster’s reaction.
“There is no lasting indication that Kobe was nervous or stuttering or in any regard intimidated by Jordan. That was merely the entirety of their conversation. Jordan had nothing else to say. Neither did Kobe, who introduced himself to Bulls forward Horace Grant,” Sielski wrote.
Kobe and MJ’s first matchup
Whether fans like it or not, Bryant and Jordan’s first meeting in the flesh wasn’t as dramatic or intense as some may have imagined. However, that wasn’t the case during the pair’s first matchup on basketball’s biggest stage.
In Bryant’s debut season in the NBA, he didn’t get the chance to match up with Jordan due to his limited minutes as a rookie. However, he made sure to give “His Airness” a duel he would never forget the following year.
On December 17, 1997, the 19-year-old Kobe flexed his muscle on Jordan and dropped 33 points on the Bulls. Of course, MJ did not let a teenager torch him like that and logged a game-high 36 points to lead Chicago to a blowout 104-83 victory.
“That motherf***er spun such a fast baseline, I had no idea what happened. He was dunking the ball before I knew what the hell happened. I was 18, and I was like, ‘Oh sh*t, that was pretty f**king cool,” Bryant said of Jordan after the game.
“Then running back down the court, he [Jordan] was like, ‘A lot faster in person, isn’t it?’ I had to snap back to reality with a ‘Fu** you,” he added.
Kobe carved his own path in the sport MJ once dominated
Bryant admittedly and unapologetically tried to mimic Jordan’s moves. Eventually, he became arguably the closest thing to MJ. However, Kobe wanted to be something other than the Jordan of his generation. Instead, he committed himself to transcending all the NBA greats. Over time, people began to realize and accept that no matter how utterly identical they were as players, Kobe made his own legacy and wrote his own story.