I would say my favorite Kobe story was when I was in Portland, and we had a win streak against the Lakers in the Rose Garden. So I got hurt, and leading up into this game, Kobe sprains his ankle. I wouldn't say it then, but I used to watch Laker games, just as much as playing, it's like, "All right, now I gotta record a DVR of my Laker games," 'cause Kobe was still my favorite player, but I didn't want anybody to think that he had an edge on me because I did like him so much as a player.

So we're getting ready for the game, and they asked me, "Am I gonna play?" And I was just like, "Nah, I'm just not ready yet. I think it's my hamstring," and Kobe was like, "Gonna play if I was gonna suit up, he was gonna play." And I was like, "No way, he hurt his ankle too bad." So if you was gonna play, he was gonna play?

He was gonna play, yes. How did you know that? Yeah, so we'll get to it. So long story short, they ended up scratching Kobe, and they're like, "All right, he's not gonna play." They do that stuff on ESPN, and then our little pack is like, "We don't know if he's gonna play or not, so we're gonna prepare as if he is and go over to Kobe's sets and how they're gonna play." So I was like, "Nah, I'm still about a week away." So I put it out there early, and then he's obviously in the other locker room.

We know he's in the arena, every camera follows a man. So I'm in the training doing all my stuff, and then I go back to the locker room, and I had a friend of mine, Chuck, he works with Nike, and then he worked with Kobe. I was like, "Is Kobe gonna play?" And he was like, "If you play, he's playing." I'm like, "I'm not playing." He was like, "All right." He said, "Nah, I don't think he's gonna play." So I was like, "All right, cool." I said, "Ask Kobe when the team's about to warm up, can I come down and say what's up?" He was like, "All right." So long story short, Chuck didn't come back in the first quarter, so he came back in the second quarter.

And he was like, "Kobe said, 'Yeah, come down there, but wait 'til the team's go out and come after halftime.'" So I was like, "For real?" So I'm getting all nervous. I played against him, but we never talked during the game. He'd just be going at me. So I was like, "For real?" He was like, "Yeah." He said, "Come down, but let the teams go out." So I'm like, "All right." So the teams, Nate come in and give his speech, both teams go out, and I'm walking up to the locker room.

I'm like, "Damn, so what I'm gonna say to Kobe?" So I'm all nervous, and I walk all the way down the hallway. And then I get to the door, and I'm kind of listening in, and I tap to knock on the locker room door. And the trainer was like, "Who is it?" And I peek in my head, and I was like, "Oh, it's B-Roy." And Kobe was laying on the table.

He was fully dressed, he had his whole warm-ups on and everything, and he was laying on the table getting stretched. And the dude was doing something to his ankle. So I'm like, "Oh, man." I was like, "Kobe." And he hops up off the table, and he's like, "B-Roy, come here." And I went to dap him, and he gave me a bear hug.

And I was just like, "Yes, it's Kobe." And then I loosened up, and he's like, "How you doing, man?" So I ended up sitting down, he's laying on the table, I sit in the little locker, and we ended up sitting there talking and joking the whole second half of the game.

And that was, for me, not just because of his passing, but that was like, "Damn, I'm meeting my idol, and I get to hang out with him." And talking. Man, I asked him everything under the sun. I was like, "So how's your and Michael Jordan's relationship?" He's like, "Me and Mike's cool." I'm like, "Oh, yeah, that's cool." But most people, I always try to look at it like, I'm in the NBA, but I'm still a fan of it.

So I asked stuff that I think my dad would. We wanted to know, "How does Kobe tie his shoes?" All that stuff was cool. And then I even joked, "So you really was gonna play?" He was like, "Yeah, you was gonna play." I was like, "Damn, you are dressed." How old was you at this time?

Man, that was my third year in the league. So I made the All-Star Game my second year, and it was in New Orleans. But Kobe didn't play, 'cause he had a bad thumb. And we really didn't talk much. I was in awe then of him. We had a few different things where we all did it together as a team.

But I remember getting on a bus, and it's like, "Damn, it's Tim Duncan." You're in the West, they're going mellow, it's like all these great players. Iverson's on the team, Shrafty, the next, Shaq's on the team. So it's like all these dudes are idolized, but then it was like, "Okay, where's Kobe?" I'm all sitting on the bus, pacing the way, "Where's Kobe getting on the bus?" So then Kobe comes, and cameras follow, you get on the bus, I'm like, "Yeah, that's Kobe." So no, it was cool, but we didn't really have a one-on-one conversation.

I was playing well in New Orleans, and he was like, "Man, stop being nice, man, stop being passive. You can go be MVP." And I'm like, "MVP at an All-Star Game? Yeah, right." And he was telling me to do it, and I was like, "Man, all right, we'll see." But that was kind of the most of our interactions at that point.

So then that next year, like I said, he didn't play. That's when I was able to sit down and have a real long conversation with him.