LaMelo Ball looked up, flung his shooting wrist and unleashed a smile that seemingly said it all — the effect of Kobe Bryant.
“You throw a little piece of paper in the sky and yell, 'Kobe!'” Ball told Yahoo Sports.
Ball isn’t someone who would’ve considered the late Kobe Bryant a big source of inspiration, but as a Southern California kid who was coming of age during the back end of Bryant’s prime — their birthdays are separated by a day, with Bryant born Aug. 23 and Ball a day before — he understood what Bryant meant to Los Angeles, to the NBA and to the culture.