Los Angeles— Nothing about the game seemed normal. Not the tributes. Not the chanting. Not the emotion. Not the reflection.
But before the Lakers could move on from Kobe Bryant’s death on Sunday, they needed to look back. Anthony Davis returned to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where he was the youngest player on the United States men’s basketball team and the last man off the bench. When Davis was finally asked to discard his warm-ups and play, the United States had a significant lead over Nigeria. But there was one problem: Davis had forgotten to put on his jersey, despite his youthful excitement at 19.
Bryant, the oldest player on the team at the time, was flabbergasted and let Davis know it. The lesson stuck.
“Before every game, I check that I have my jersey on — to this day,” Davis told reporters. “He taught me how to get dressed before a game.”
It was late Friday night, and the Lakers were minutes removed from playing their first game since Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash last Sunday outside Los Angeles. Davis was sitting next to LeBron James on a dais in a large concrete room at Staples Center, and they were offering some of their most expansive comments on Bryant since his death. About their interactions with Bryant. About what he represented and why he mattered so much to them.
