Back in August, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and Kobe Bryant chatted about the 2016 Olympic Games, and Bean’s possible addition to Team USA.
Kobe, currently in his 20th and perhaps final NBA season, says he’d be honored to represent his country next summer.
(The Black Mamba, who has previously said he won’t play in the ’16 Rio Games, helped win Gold at the 2008 Beijing Games and 2012 London Games.)
Curiously, Bryant thinks his 37-year-old legs could help the U.S. lock up opponents.
Per the AP:
“It would mean the world to me to be around those guys,” Bryant said. “I think to be able to have a chance to continue the relationship that I already have with most of those guys, talking and just kind of being around each other and understanding that this is it, it’s just us being together, that would be fun.”
“How I feel now is that I feel like I can add value from a leadership perspective and a defensive perspective,” Bryant said. “I can still move extremely well defensively.”
“I would like to play,” Bryant said. “I think it’d be awesome. A beautiful experience. I’m a global kid. I grew up in Italy, I know a lot of athletes from different parts of the world, from different sports. It’d be great to play in that environment.”
