Kobe Bryant walked to center court at the Staples Center on Monday night with all eyes on him.
It was his night.
Bryant watched along as the Lakers raised his No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys across the lower bowl in the arena, becoming the first player in the NBA to have two different numbers retired by the same team.
While the act of retiring a jersey may seem simple, with Bryant it was anything but.
Dozens of former teammates and NBA legends made the trip to the Staples Center to watch the Black Mamba’s ceremony. Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were sitting courtside. Magic Johnson caught up with Bryant in the tunnels beforehand.
Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors even stayed put at halftime instead of going to the locker room to talk strategy in the middle of their bout with the Lakers.
It was that important.
#8 and #24 get revealed in the Staples Center rafters and Kobe Bryant speaks to Laker Nation! #Ko8e24 pic.twitter.com/71wRaM3Ggh
— NBA (@NBA) December 19, 2017
Naturally, those in the basketball world outside of Los Angeles tuned in, too. Norman Powell and the Toronto Raptors were no exception.
“It’s crazy, man.The first player to have two jerseys retired in the same organization, it’s legendary,” Powell said. “It’s legendary, just to be a part of it, just to say that I was able to play with him, play against him. It’s amazing for me to be able to see that.”
Coach Dwane Casey, who said he had issues stopping Bryant when he was both No. 8 and No. 24, said it was his attitude towards the game that truly separated him from the rest of the pack.
“The one thing you take away from Kobe Bryant, and for any young kids that are keeping up with basketball, is just the intensity that he played with, the intensity that he worked with, the intensity to win,” Casey said. "Just his overall approach, some people call it killer instinct, some people call it assassin, his was just a laser-like focus to win. That’s hard to teach.
“He would do whatever he had to do to win the game, physically, mentally. He had no friends on the court. Again, he’s one of the greatest of all time, and last night should have been inspiring to tall of us, not just for basketball but for life.”
Bryant, Powell said, is one that he and nearly everyone else in the NBA today looked up to as a role model growing up.
And even though Powell only got to play in the league for a brief time with the Lakers legend, he knows that the legacy Bryant left behind will never be forgotten.
“He changed basketball and the way it’s played just mentally and just physically, all the things that he played through,” Powell said. “His mental approach to the game really shaped the way and laid the foundation for all the kids growing up in my generation and even younger.
“He’s himself, though and through. I think that’s what captures him. Through anything that goes on with his personal life, on the court he’s himself … So it doesn’t matter what people say, or what he’s going through, his mission is to get the result that he wants. He’s going to do whatever it takes to get there. I think that’s what makes him him.”