By Dionysis Aravantinos / info@eurohoops.net
Yes, you read the title correctly. Kobe Bryant did play against grown men in Italy when he was 12 years old.
Before moving to the United States, the ‘Black Mamba’ played basketball in Italy, as his father was a professional basketball player. In the 1980s, Joe Bryant played for four different Italian teams: AMG Sebastiani Rieti, Standa Reggio Calabria, Olimpia Pistoia, and Reggiana.
Kobe took advantage of it, worked on his game and showcased his skills against grown men. Except for this photo below, however, there are no more details regarding Kobe and his opponents in Italy.
Kobe Bryant at age 12 playing grown men in Italy from r/lakers
Kobe Bryant wanted to come back and play professionally in Italy and when the NBA lockout occurred in 2011, he considered it but eventually did not make the decision to come back to Europe and play in Italy. As he stated, Italy for him is where it all started: “Italy is my home. It’s where my dream of playing in the NBA started. This is where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to [move] without the ball,” Kobe said to Gazzetta dello Sport. “All things that when I came back to America the players my age didn’t know how to do because they were only thinking about jumping and dunking.”
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