With the retirement of both of Kobe Bryant's jerseys, the Mamba has reached the true ending of his Lakers career. One day he will be a NBA Hall of Fame member, but that is more an NBA level thing than a Los Angeles Lakers thing. Those jerseys will hang in the rafters of the Staples Center for the rest of time, alongside some of the greatest players in NBA and Lakers history.
While I could talk about the numbers, the accolades, or the statements other players have made about him, those things do not really show his legacy. Kobe's legacy lies in more than any metric someone could use to identify just how good he was. Kobe's greatest basketball legacy comes from the person that he was on the court.
The Mamba Mentality is the state of mind that Kobe, and now others, had, to be the best. Kobe himself said,
"To sum up what Mamba Mentality is, it means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself."
Which has made an impact on so many people. People all over the world have adopted the Mamba Mentality to do great things.
I read this article about a Kobe fan who lost 170 lbs after Kobe retired. The Mamba Mentality helped him accomplish that goal, and he is using it to help his brother. This Kobe fan, and other people, have made Kobe's Mamba Mentality a legacy all its own.
That desire to be the best can be applied to almost any aspect of life. Nobody can go play an NBA game and score 81 points, but we can all try to adopt the Mamba Mentality. We can all try to be the best version of ourselves, and we can adopt many of the things that Kobe brought with it.
Kobe was often called a ball-hog, but it could also be viewed as Kobe knew he was the best player on the planet and was going to do it himself. Kobe was a hit-man, an assassin, a cold-blooded killer on the floor, which is expected of someone with the moniker of Mamba. The Mamba's place in NBA history will be debated for year's to come, but the Legacy of the Mamba Mentality cannot be denied.
