NBA Fans React To Kyrie Irving Telling Great Story About Kobe Bryant, Who He Believes Is The GOAT

• Kyrie Irving shared a classic story about Kobe Bryant about how he told him how to approach the 2016 season.
• In another discussion, Irving said he believed Bryant, not Michael Jordan and LeBron James is the GOAT.
• Read more news about the NBA here.

Kyrie Irving may be one of the most polarizing figures in the NBA (just ask Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks), but there’s no arguing the facts that he is a) a great player and b) has played with and against some of the greatest players in NBA history.

One of those all time great NBA players Irving has gone to battle against is the man who he refers to as the GOAT: Kobe Bryant.

This wee on a live stream, Kyrie Irving said he would pick The Black Mamba over Michael Jordan and LeBron James – the two names most often mentioned in the GOAT conversation.

“He’s the greatest to play this game. When I say the greatest to play this game, it doesn’t mean I’m knocking anybody else, alright?” said Irving. “F—, let me finish my story. The greatest to play this game to me! I don’t give a f— what you talking about, I don’t care about your stats. I don’t f—ing care. The greatest to play this game, to me!”

Kyrie Irving shared how Kobe Bryant helped him in the Cavs championship season

Irving also shared a classic story about Kobe Bryant telling him how to approach the season in 2016 after he injured his leg and lost in the NBA Finals to Golden State.

“Alright, so the year before, I got hurt in the Finals, Golden State ended up winning the championship,” said Irving. “I was really going through it that whole summer. I had a cast on my leg, so I ended up calling Kobe. … I was telling him, ‘man, my left leg, man, it’s no good, it’s not good.'”

So Bryant asked Irving what else can he do then? Irving said he could still play defense and try to have a positive impact on the game.

“Kobe was like, ‘I need you to focus ont he things that you can do, don’t worry about the things that you can’t do. Even if you’re only on one leg, don’t think about the injury, think about the goal, think about the mission.”

Kobe Bryant gave Kyrie Irving some extra motivation heading into the Cavs’ championship season

Later that summer, Kobe Bryant had another message for Irving.

“‘You can’t give a f— about what people say,'” Kobe said to Irving. “‘And if you are paying attention to what people say, stop! Stop paying attention to all that bulls–t people are going to talk anyway. Just be you. Don’t take a backseat to anybody, just be you.'”

Kobe also gave Irving a little motivation going into the what would be Bryant’s final season, in a most typical Kobe Bryant way.

“He was like, ‘Man, I think Golden State is definitely going to win the championship this year,’” Irving recalled with a laugh. “Bro, could you imagine Kobe saying this? Bro, this is like my hero.

“So he says that to me. I looked at him, straight in his eye, and I said, ‘No, they’re not. What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘Nah man, they got a really good team this year. You guys match up well against them, but…’ I said, ‘They’re not f—ing winning this year, we are going to win this s–t. What are you talking about?”

Kyrie and the Cavs did end up winning it, beating the Warriors 4 games to 3.

Many NBA fans really seemed to enjoy this side of Kyrie Irving and wished he would show it more often.