Ex-Lakers Champion Shares Hilarious Text Exchange with Kobe Bryant

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Nobody has ever doubted the ability of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant to make some of the most difficult shots on the basketball court. During his prime days, he had a skillset that allowed to rise over the best defenders in the game and still hit shots as the clock was winding down.

This of course all went back to the amount of time he dedicated to perfecting his craft. What many fans would view as a tough shot in real time was actually a shot that Bryant had practiced thousands of times in an empty gym. We all watched as the Black Mamba's career went on and he evolved his game into one revolved more around post jumpers and footwork compared to slashing and athleticism.

Therefore, seeing that today marks what would've been the late legend's 45th birthday, we have to take a look at an old text that Bryant's 2009 championship teammate Trevor Ariza shared on Instagram.

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Ariza sent Bryant a picture of him taking a jumper despite not one, not two but three Phoenix Suns defenders all around him and put a number of laughing emojis to go with it.

Bryant responded hilariously by pointing out that if so many of Phoenix's defenders were focused on him, that meant that the rest of the Lakers would have amazing odds to get a great look at a put-back should his shot miss.

We truly may never see another player like Bryant again but his impact on the sports community holds strong today. He had a mentality on the court like none other and even though jokes like these may fuel those that think he only cared about scoring, his championship teammates like Ariza know that the most important thing to him was getting wins.

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