Kobe Bryant

Jordan Ramirez

Born in French Lick, Indiana — the same town as Larry Bird — the 76-year-old Reynolds has served in nearly every capacity during his time in Sacramento.

The French Lick native attended Springs Valley High School in Indiana and played college ball at Vincennes University where he also started his coaching career in 1967.

Beginning as an assistant coach and developing into a head coach, general manager, adviser and broadcaster, there isn’t a greater embodiment of being Sacramento Proud than the native Hoosier.

With his basketball knowledge infinite and stories to last a lifetime, “Reynolds Remembers” are tales from Jerry, by Jerry, for the fans.

So, let’s hippity-hop to the barber shop with the legend himself.

Optimism was really high with the Kings in 1996 — we were coming off a tough playoff series against the Seattle Supersonics and held the 14th pick in the NBA Draft.

In the Draft, I thought there was a ton of star potential. Even at No. 14, I thought we could get a really good player. It was clear early on in the process that Geoff Petrie — General Manager and President of Basketball Operations — was ready to take a chance and draft a high school player by the name of Kobe Bryant.

At that time, high school players weren't going that high in the draft as they did a little bit later. But Geoff made it clear to Kobe’s agent, that if his client was there at No. 14 that we would take him.

Kobe’s camp told us that if he was drafted by the Kings, he wouldn’t sign. Arn Tellem — Bryant's agent — said he wouldn't sign with several teams in front of us either because he wanted to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Tellem had a relationship with Jerry West, who of course was running the Lakers at that time.

The New Jersey Nets, who had the No. 8 pick, said they were taking Kobe. Being fairly close to the Philadelphia area, they were well aware of the dynamic talent that Kobe possessed. But, because they couldn’t sign him, they didn’t draft him.

Regardless of the threats, Geoff was going to draft Kobe. If he ever wanted to play in the NBA, whoever drafts him would have his rights. Geoff was going to make the gutsy move — because of Kobe’s camp refusal to play in Sacramento — if he was there.

Geoff made it clear to his agent that we are taking Kobe. Tellem certainly made it clear to Geoff (and other teams) that under no circumstances would Kobe Bryant play for any of them. We don't care if he played in Italy, we were going to draft him and keep his draft rights so that when he plays in the NBA, it will be for the Sacramento Kings.

That was when Charlotte, who had the No. 13 pick, traded that pick to the Lakers. This allowed them to get in front of us, which Kobe’s agent knew they had to do to get the future Hall of Famer. They would have to get in front of the Kings, which they did.

Kobe worked out for other teams but he wouldn’t for us. I was impressed with Geoff on a lot of levels for many years, but being from the Philadelphia area, he really tapped into his people and trusted that this kid is special. This is the one.

I know absolutely for a fact that we would’ve taken Kobe, and the only way that he wasn’t going to play for the Sacramento Kings was the Lakers swinging a trade, and they did it. Tellem knew that Geoff Petrie wasn't going to back off like other teams. Kobe didn’t care what position he was drafted, he just wanted to go to the Lakers.

Vlade [Divac] went to Charlotte and had some really good years. He played on a couple of 50-win teams and people tend to forget that. Vlade had a lot of success with the Lakers, and then Charlotte and then with the Kings. He was a true winner.

Of course, we were thrilled with who we ended up drafting in Peja Stojakovic. Peja became a three-time All-Star, an NBA champion and certainly one of the great shooters in the history of the game. Peja didn’t come over immediately, he stayed in Europe for another year, but Geoff Petrie was well aware of that when we drafted him.

As is with many Drafts over the course of NBA history, a moment here or there could really change the trajectory of a franchise, and it has never been more true than with that legendary 1996 Draft class.

To read more stories from the Reynolds Remembers series, click here.

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Reynolds Remembers: The Night Sacramento Planned to Draft Kobe Bryant

Hannah Taheri

More than 20,000 people gathered at Staples Center to attend Monday’s Celebration of Life honoring those lost in the helicopter crash that took the lives of seven people, including Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gigi. Among those attendees were Kings players, former and new, as well as front office members from the organization.

The team played the Clippers on Saturday afternoon and made a point of staying in L.A. through the weekend to return to Staples Center for the historic memorial.

Kings Forward Harrison Barnes described the service as, “a beautiful celebration of Kobe and Gigi and all the victims of the crash.”

Barnes continued, “It definitely puts in perspective the platform that we have and the blessing it is every single day to come out here and play…but also the opportunity we have to inspire people. You look around that arena, you see all the people that he touched in a very personal way.”

Another aspect of the memorial that stunned attendees and viewers alike was the sheer strength of Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant. She delivered two beautiful eulogies to honor her late husband and daughter and kept remarkable composure for the duration of her twenty minutes on the stage.

“Vanessa being strong enough to be able to do that [speech] was great,” De’Aaron Fox commented. “Obviously, it was emotional being there. It was great that we were able to be there to support. I mean, Kobe was one of our own. [The NBA] is a fraternity. Not a lot of guys can really say that they were able to play in the NBA. He touched a lot of people.”

Bogdan Bogdanovic, a particularly huge fan of the Black Mamba, was also in awe of the vast number of people the basketball legend impacted in his lifetime.

“All the people there, they were from different areas. Not just basketball. It's unbelievable that Kobe touched all these people. There will never be a man like that again.”

Kings newcomer Kent Bazemore had similar sentiments to share. When asked about how it felt to be in attendance, he replied, “It was amazing to see so much talent in one place from numerous decades from different walks of life.”

In addition to Michael Jordan, Shaq, Dwyane Wayde, and more, also included on the talented guest list were Hollywood A-listers such as J-Lo and A-Rod, Beyonce, and Jimmy Kimmel to name a few. Bazemore expressed a special appreciation for the number of women's basketball players in attendance, saying, “The way that the women's basketball game was represented there really meant a lot. I attend a lot of women's basketball games. To see Diana Taurasi and [Sabrina Ionescu] speaking on how Kobe impacted them was really motivating to see.”

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Kings Share Sentiments on Attending Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant

Alex Kramers

The anguish and sorrow are discernible in Peja Stojakovic’s voice as he speaks about Kobe Bryant, the global icon revered by those who played with or against him and idolized by generations of athletes who came after him, in the past tense.

Days after the tragic Southern California helicopter crash, Stojakovic, like so many worldwide, is still struggling to process that the unimaginable is numbingly real.

“I’m still personally in disbelief,” he said. “This tragedy has affected all of us. From the first moment when I heard (reports), I thought it was fake news. And then later, it was just hard to accept it. I just feel for the whole Bryant family – losing a husband, losing a daughter – and also for the other victims that were involved in this tragic event.”

For Stojakovic, now Kings assistant general manager, memories of the 41-year-old legend are still vivid in his mind, from epic battles in the postseason to private conversations when the two were teammates at All-Star Weekends. Bryant, Stojakovic says, inspired him with his immeasurable work ethic and competitiveness.

“He was a fierce competitor, somebody who always had that confidence and anything that he was doing, you had a feeling that he’s going to do that at the highest level,” Stojakovic said. “He was always striving to be the best at anything that he was trying to do, so his legacy will live forever.”

Throughout the length of his 20-year career, Bryant was Sacramento’s biggest and most-feared rival, a heel who tightly clenched his fist after taking the reins of countless games and sinking last-second shots that broke hearts and spirits. Night after night, the five-time champion had an uncanny knack for demoralizing overmatched defenders while maintaining his steely scowl in the processes.

In the early 2000s, the Kings came agonizingly close to toppling Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers for Western Conference superiority in three consecutive postseason clashes; none more memorable or more gut-wrenching than the 2002 Western Conference Finals.

The two-time Finals MVP, on multiple occasions, impeded Sacramento from winning a championship, but Kings players who faced him share deep respect for his profound greatness, his quick feet and even quicker instincts, and his unyielding determination.

“Kobe’s legacy is definitely one of the best players to play this game ever,” said former Kings center and current general manager Vlade Divac. “Kobe made an impact on basketball in a big way. He came in the League when he was 17 years old, but he was working on his game every day. … The way he played, people all around the world loved the passion that he put in for basketball.”

The basketball journeys of Divac and Bryant were intertwined before the NBA’s most famous No. 8 checked into a game. During the 1996 NBA Draft, the Lakers boldly traded the Serbian center to Charlotte for the rights to Bryant, a high school phenom selected with the No. 13 pick.

In 2004-05, Divac’s final season as a player, the two were briefly teammates in Los Angeles, where the slick-passing big man marveled at the way Bryant, by then a three-time champion, would still push himself as hard in scrimmages as he would in a Game 7.

“It was amazing to see how much work he puts in his game in practice,” Divac said. “And what you see in practice, he’d just do the same thing in the game. He really worked on his game a lot.”

Those marathon training sessions combined with a burning desire to win at all costs are what drew an entire new era of NBA players to follow in Bryant’s footsteps. Inside and outside the borders of the U.S., young athletes heard the lore of the 18-time All-Star's exhaustive drills and studied his unimpeachable offensive arsenal.

As a child in Eight Mile Rock, a coastal region in the Bahamas some 2,500 miles outside of Los Angeles, Buddy Hield grew up emulating Bryant and fell in love with the game because of him. The Kings guard learned how to shoot on homemade hoops assembled out of milk crates or bicycle rims, nailing jumpers from deep and near while imitating the larger-than-life Lakers superstar.

On organized teams, he’d always pick one of Bryant’s two jersey numbers; at the University of Oklahoma, and later with the Hornets and Kings, he’d wear No. 24 exclusively.

“The greatest of all time, in my opinion,” Hield said. “Growing up in the Bahamas, Kobe was that guy who made you believe. … Him just being that role model for me helped me guide myself out. Knowing if I just work hard and I just keep on dedicating myself to my craft until it’s perfected, I have a way to get out and be able to take care of my family.”

Hield would stay up late on many nights to watch Lakers games on TNT, his shirt drenched in sweat during hot summer nights in the western island and his chants of ‘defense!’ echoing through the house.

“He caused me to love basketball so much,” Hield said. “The way he carried himself on the court, I wanted to walk like him, I wanted to wear my sleeve like him. I even run like him with my thumbs up. Everything was Kobe ... He changed a lot of people’s lives; he impacted a lot of people’s lives in a lot of ways you can’t describe.”

One day after the unspeakable tragedy that claimed the life of his childhood hero, Hield scribbled messages of tribute, including “Like I’m Kobe” and “Mamba 4 Life,” in black marker on his purple-and-gold-accented sneakers. Just as Bryant did throughout his career, Sacramento’s leading scorer pulled a shooting sleeve on his right arm and a sweatband above his left elbow.

“I was thinking about Kobe a lot,” said Hield, after scoring a career-high 42 points on a fitting 24 shots to lead an unprecedented Kings comeback in Minnesota. “Even when my brother called me, he was like, ‘Do it for Kobe.’”

In mid-August, Hield and De’Aaron Fox were among a group of players who were handpicked by Bryant to attend his Mamba Pro Invitational, a multi-day minicamp, for strength-training, a battery of drills and video work. The opportunity to ask questions and gather insight from a player they adored from the moment they first dribbled a basketball is an experience the Kings guards always cherish.

“I’m extremely grateful that I was still able to be with him before this season started because you never know when your last chance will be,” Fox said. “Kobe’s legacy is going to be remembered as someone who obviously worked hard, the way he carried himself.”

Fox, 22, wasn’t born yet when Bryant debuted in the NBA, his memories driven by the rarified feats he and his brother saw the departed legend pull off on TV, but still felt his immense influence.

Even more so than on-court tutelage from one of the game’s most impeccable scorers and hardest workers, for the Kings point guard, there was no bigger honor than being able to consider Bryant a mentor.

“I think as a person, what people didn’t know was how down to earth he was, how much he cared about everybody,” Fox said. “Just being around him, not having anything to do with basketball, was spectacular because he’s not the person you thought he was seeing him through the media and the way he played the game.”

Away from the court and TV cameras that only captured Bryant’s all-business disposition, Stojakovic says, a “friendly soft spot” for past teammates and adversaries radiated through playful banter.

After Stojakovic retired from the NBA, he and Bryant would share old stories and remember their once-contentious on-court battles whenever their paths would cross. One time, the lionized Laker, his fabled “Mamba Mentality” obscured behind a charismatic smile, inquired about his former foe’s new hobbies.

"He was asking me, ‘What are you doing these days when you’re not playing basketball?’” Stojakovic recalled. “I was telling him that I was into tennis, and he was saying, ‘I’ll beat you in tennis!’”

There’s no doubt in Stojakovic’s mind that Bryant, arguably the most fearless and ambitious competitor to ever touch a basketball – or any ball – believed he’d dominate on the grass court as easily as he did on the hardwood. And as he’d so often proved, with his viper-like focus and deep-seated drive to be the G.O.A.T., “The Black Mamba” would seize any challenge.

“There’s nothing he couldn’t accomplish,” Hield said. “Whatever he put his mind to, he was going to do it. That was Kobe.”

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Kings Players Past and Present Mourn Kobe Bryant: ‘His Legacy Will Live Forever’

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Sacramento Kings Kobe Bryant Tribute

The Sacramento Kings plan to honor the life and legacy of Kobe Bryant with multiple demonstrations at Golden 1 Center this week.

Ahead of the Kings matchup against Oklahoma City on Wednesday, there will be a special tribute video prior to tip-off, followed by a 24-second moment of silence to honor the lives of Kobe and his daughter Gianna, in addition to an in-game video tribute during the first quarter.

The team will forever remember the mutual respect shared between Kobe and Sacramento.

On Saturday, with the Los Angeles Lakers coming to Sacramento, the Kings will air a special, in-game video tribute during the first quarter.

In the Plaza, directly across from the Grand Entrance to the arena, there will be an art installation in remembrance of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. Fans and members of the public are invited to visit the memorial and leave notes and flowers in honor of their life and legacy.

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Schedule of Events to Honor NBA Legend Kobe Bryant

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Luke Walton Remembers Kobe Bryant

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Official Release

Sacramento, Calif. — Today, Sacramento Kings Chairman, CEO and Governor Vivek Ranadivé issued the following statement on the passing of NBA legend Kobe Bryant:

“Today, the world mourns the loss of a legend. We are all extremely devastated and saddened to learn of the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.

“Kobe is one of the greatest competitors the NBA has ever known. His storied career and commitment to the game is revered by fans around the globe. He inspired a generation on and off the court to strive for greatness and his countless contributions to basketball will live on.

“We will forever remember the mutual respect shared between Kobe and Sacramento. On behalf of the entire Kings organization, we extend our deepest condolences to his wife Vanessa, their family and all those impacted as we hold them in our hearts and prayers at this most difficult time.”

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Sacramento Kings Statement on the Passing of NBA Legend Kobe Bryant

sacjwise

Kings fans deservedly have a lot of opinions about Lakers star Kobe Bryant, but as he travels through the twilight of his career, it is fun to hear from a player who's legacy is so closely tied to Sacramento's.

Holding a conference call on Monday night in Los Angeles with reporters across the country, No. 24 reflected on his playing career, his prospects for the 2016 All-Star game, playing in the Olympics and much more.

One of the more interesting questions, however, was about the top five teams and top five players he's faced in his illustrious career. Spanning nearly two decades, Kobe has had the privilege of playing against a multitude of legendary players and legendary teams.

It should come with a sense of pride for Kings fans that the first team out of his mouth, when choosing his top five teams, was the early 2000s Sacramento Kings.

The other teams included the 2008 Boston Celtics, 2004 Detroit Pistons, 1996 Chicago Bulls and the Spurs "almost any year."

The Kings are high on his list because they were the one team during the Lakers 1999-2002 dominance that nearly beat them - a team that featured two shoo-in Hall of Famers in Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal and a now 11-time NBA Champion head coach in Phil Jackson.

From 1999-2005 Kobe's Lakers held a 13-11 regular season record against the Kings and a 11-5 record against Sacramento in the playoffs, but the wins never came easy. An upstart 1999-00 Kings team featuring a young Jason Williams, Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac took the No. 1 seeded Lakers to a deciding fifth game and then two years later were five minutes away from defeating the two-time defending champions in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.

Kobe didn't expand on why any of these team's ranked in his top five, but one can assume the Kings were up there in part because of Bryant's counterpart and defensive stalwart Doug Christie.

Christie matched up with 17-time All-Star 26 times (15 regular season games and 11 postseason games)and had two of his best defensive games in two of the biggest moments. No. 13 held Kobe to just 22 points on 21 shots and four turnovers in Game Two of the Western Conference Finals and 22 points on 24 shots in Game Three of that same series, both Kings wins.

Even though the Kings didn't win that series, they clearly earned the respect of one of the greatest players of this generation. As Kobe's career comes to a close and thus his rightful place historically as "enemy No. 1" of Sacramento Kings fans and the like, we can look back at those times and remember and cherish the battle, because he certainly does as well.

To get tickets to Kobe's last game in Sacramento on January 7, click here.