What on earth would prompt Joe “Jellybean” Bryant to auction the 2000 NBA championship ring his son Kobe gifted him?
Is the father of the Lakers legend signaling that he and Kobe’s mom, Pamela, are in financial straits and need the estimated $200,000 the ring could fetch to make ends meet?
Is it an attempt to embarrass Kobe’s widow, Vanessa, into gifting them a slice of the estimated $600-million estate Kobe left her when he died in a helicopter crash four years ago?
Without question it’s just the latest chapter in the choppy relationship Kobe’s parents had with their son during his 20-year Lakers career and marriage to Vanessa, whom he met in 1999 and married in 2001.