NBA legend Kobe Bryant’s response to Boston Celtics Gordon Hayward’s horrible injury seemed to miss the mark just a bit.
The five-time NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers wrote the following on Instagram:
Be sad. Be mad. Be frustrated. Scream. Cry. Sulk. When you wake up you will think it was just a nightmare only to realize it’s all too real. You will be angry and wish for the day back, the game back THAT play back. But reality gives nothing back and nor should you. Time to move on and focus on doing everything in your power to prepare for surgery, ask all the questions to be sure you understand fully the procedure so that you may visualize it in your subconscious while being operated on and better the chance of it’s success. Then focus on the recovery process day by day by day. It’s a long journey but if you focus on the mini milestones along the way you will find beauty in the struggle of doing simple things that prior to this injury were taken for granted. This will also mean that when you return you will have a new perspective. You will be so appreciative of being able to stand, walk, run that you will train harder than you ever have. You see the belief within you grow with each mini milestone and you will come back a better player for it. Best of luck to you on this journey my brother #mambamentality always.
This message was going along just fine, until the last sentence. At that point, Bryant managed to spin the whole thing to focus on himself with the “#mambamentality” comment. Hayward’s career was just changed possibly forever. Maybe save the stuff about your own mentality for a conversation down the road. Nobody even knows when or if he’ll play again.
The funny thing with this post is that it was really good for the first 95 percent, but he just couldn’t help himself from writing that last sentence. Are we really surprised by this? Bryant wasn’t exactly known for being the most humble player in the league throughout his career.
