Kobe Bryant doesn’t typically sit down for touchy and personal interviews, but he did just that for “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” on Yahoo! Sports that aired early on Sunday.
Among the topics discussed includes his ultra-sensitive rape case, his relationship with Phil Jackson, the inability to co-exist with Shaquille O’Neal, his destiny of becoming an NBA star and the possibility of his retirement at the age of 35. Bryant also explains how he managed to score 63 points as an eight-year-old in the extensive interview below:
If you don’t have 20-plus minutes to kill, you can read the transcript of the most relevant questions and answers between Bensinger and Bryant:
GB: What do you think you learned from the whole experience (rape case)?
KB: It’s a lot that I learned from that experience. A lot of things I went through specifically during the process that I wish I could dive into. I think as a person it just teaches you how to, how to let go. How to trust, and not try to control everything. I think that decreases your stress levels tenfold. You’re not worrying about the next moment. You’re not worrying about what this person is saying. You’re not worrying about what this outcome may be. Instead, you just kind of let go.
GB: At one point, he (Phil Jackson) apparently says to then Lakers GM that “look, if Kobe is back next year, I’m not coming back.” Obviously the relationship’s since been repaired but when it was kind of fractured the most, what were the factors you think were responsible for that?
KB: I think the most challenging things for him in dealing with our group, we had a couple, one of them being the dynamic of myself and Shaquille. Him having to deal with that relationship and kind of keeping me at arm’s distance so that in turn he could bring me closer to Shaq. The other thing he was dealing with was a young race horse that wanted to get to an elite level as an individual player and establish himself in the league. So he had to deal with that balancing act. We both were extremely, all three of us were stubborn. Phil’s extremely stubborn. So is Shaq and so am I, so it was very very difficult for him to find that balance and I think he became frustrated because he couldn’t figure out a way to really reach me.
GB: You mentioned Shaq. You guys obviously had a very very successful working relationship. I mean, three consecutive titles. You know, what more could you ask for. Nobody makes any secrets there just wasn’t the close relationship there that you might like with teammates. Why do you think you were unable to maintain that same working relationship for longer?
KB: It just wasn’t gonna happen. Just not in the cards. There’s things I wanted to do with my career and take it to another level that I was just incapable of doing as long as we were playing together, which I was fine with doing until I heard him say a few times that, you know, “Kobe’s not going to be as successful without me.” That kind of became the chatter so now once that became the chatter, I said whoa whoa whoa whoa. No no no no no I can do this. It just wasn’t going to work no matter what happened, even if we had won that championship. Me being a free agent, there was just no way. I had to accept this challenge. I had to see what I can do.
GB: Five championships, obviously. How about the most satisfying victory of your career?
KB: Game 7 against the Celtics. That was the most satisfying one because that was the hardest one. We came back to L.A. in that series being down 3-2 against a great, great team. Against four hall of famers. So that was a Game 7 being down 15 points in the fourth quarter, that was a tough one.
GB: During your first year with the Lakers, you said “When I’m 35 years old, I’m not going to be in the league. By then, I’ll be relaxing with my family overseas somewhere. Your thoughts on that now?
KB: Still probably accurate.
GB: Really? Why do you say that?
KB: I’ve been playing for 17 years now. So next year will be my 17th and then when I’m 35 will be my 18th year in the league. That’s a long time to be playing. It will be the last year of my contract so I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ll play any longer than that. I don’t know.
GB: How would you like your career to be looked back on?
KB: I would love for people to look at my career and say that I maximized everything that I possibly could. Every ounce of talent I had, I got the most out of it. If people can say that about me, then I’ll be very happy.