(NBA Getty Images)

Every player has their “Welcome to the NBA moment”, but the moment you face the star you idolize is probably a completely different experience.
For older generations, it was playing against Michael Jordan. For the current generation, it’s playing against LeBron James. But for the older stars in today’s league, it’s Kobe Bryant.

After Bryant passed away due to a plane crash in 2020, many memories and stories about the Black Mamba were revealed. Many of them come from his colleagues in the NBA.

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry recently joined the show “Hot Ones” with Sean Evans, where he talks about three of his memorable experiences playing against Bryant during his career.

(NBA Getty Images)

Curry was prompted when Evans asked about the story of the nickname “Baby-Face Assassin” which Bryant named himself. That opened the door for Curry to talk about Kobe.

Curry started with a story from his rookie year. He recalled the moment Bryant showed respect for his game, something Curry didn’t find out until after the game was over.

“It was my rookie year and we were playing the Lakers at home. I’ve had some pretty great pump fakes. When we left the field, Bryant was doing an interview. For some reason Bryant leaned into the teammate next to him and said, ‘Yo, that guy is great,'” Curry told Evans.

“It’s the dumbest thing in the world. Kobe Bryant is praising me, in our first face-off. That’s amazing”.

Curry didn’t stop there. He went on to tell a story about the first time he saw “Mamba Mentality” of Bryant at close range as an opponent.
“The second time we played a preseason game and Bryant went into Mamba Mentality in the first quarter,” Curry started.

“You turn around and he’s like this [imitates Kobe’s signature intense facial expression]. He was making defensive moves, standing in front of me. I was like, ‘What’s going on? Kobe Bryant is so weird’.

“So Bryant followed me for about four or five plays, then he bumped into me and I kind of lost my balance. At this point I was really suffocated. I was tired, trying to get back into form in a pre-season game, and he was just going all in on defensive pressure and he was a lot bigger and stronger than me, bumping into me and doing it all those things.

“So after falling, I understood I had no other choice, I just tried to throw the ball away and learn to live with it. Then I tried to throw a shot from a distance of about 30 feet (about 9m1) and succeeded, then I pretended to be cold and turned back. It’s something to be proud of ‘hold on to that great moment because it’s Kobe, I just threw one from 30 feet against Kobe Bryant,’ Curry said with a laugh.

“He gave me a pat on the butt on the way back and I can’t even admit it, I just threw in one time and Bryant acted like it. I came back right after halftime and said to the team staff, “I need that clip. Give me. I had to save it to my phone,’ Curry said with a laugh.

Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who found both videos Curry was talking about and paired them with the Twitter interview.

I dug up the videos from Stephen Curry’s stories about Kobe Bryant Finally, Curry mentioned the “Baby Faced Assassin” by Evans to open the conversation.
“The third time was Bryant breaking the killer instinct I was hiding behind a smile,” Curry said passionately.

“Bryant loves to joke around and playing with him makes you laugh a lot, we are often fooled by his inner killer instinct and competitive spirit that he has.

“For someone to recognize you like that – especially he doesn’t give compliments like that – that’s really special, for sure”.
Even as one of the greatest players in NBA history, Curry isn’t too proud to admit what it means to receive such praise from one of the sport’s most influential icons. have seen.

You can watch Curry’s full interview on “Hot Ones” under.