The story began with a young Kobe Bryant showing his early obsession with basketball, rolling up his father’s tube socks to create a makeshift basketball he could shoot with in his bedroom.
He studied VHS tapes of the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s. As he clutched the basketball in his hands without any intent of letting go, Bryant marveled at the Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan posters hanging on his bedroom wall.
“I fell in love with you,” Bryant said. “A love so deep that I gave it my all, from my mind and body, to my spirit and soul.