Kobe Bryant Joins Ellen DeGeneres for His First Post-Retirement Interview and A Prank
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When Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant played his last game in the NBA this season, it immediately felt empty.
The basketball super star has had some time to himself and recently made his first post-retirement interview to the Ellen DeGeneres show.
DeGeneres congratulated Bryant on his his final game where he led the Lakers to a comeback win against the Utah Jazz by scoring 60 points.
DeGeneres said you couldn't dream of anything like that and Bryant said he couldn't believe that it actually happened and the moment was finally there.
Bryant says he was pretty calm until he walked into the arena. He kept telling himself that he shouldn't suck.
He missed his first couple of shots but got in the rhythm after. DeGeneres says that there were a lot of celebrities out and asked Bryant if it was distracting, however, Bryant says it just adds to the excitement.
The star told DeGeneres that he heard her voice come up on the jumbotron and he was surprised to see her up there. Bryant said his daughters never saw him play like that before and wondered where it came from.
He told DeGeneres and the audience that he had to remind them he was pretty good when they were younger.
He says the coolest thing for them is walking out to the show and not being embarrassing. Bryant says he dances but he is a better sit down dancer but once he stands up it doesn't connect.
Meanwhile, DeGeneres brought up Bryant's former teammate Shaquille O'Neal who said the two of them pushed each other to work harder in his interview on the Ellen Show.
Bryant joked that he didn't really like Shaq, however, he said that they really challenged each other a lot and in every environment you want to have people that tell you the truth. The mamba talked about watching his last game and picking his performance apart before telling DeGeneres that he has no regrets and that he really doesn't want to play the game anymore.
Bryant said that it was not his body that forced him out of the game.
Later on in the show DeGeneres and Kobe played a little prank on an esthetician Linda. You can watch Bryant's interview and prank on the Ellen Show in the video below.