The two years Matt Barnes spent with the Los Angeles Lakers were a fun time for the father of two. He and Kobe were super friendly, and even to this day, when Barnes needs a favor, he calls one in.
Yesterday was that day.
Barnes was celebrating his kids’ birthdays, and he waited to give one final gift. The best gift of all.
Barnes set up his boys with a Kobe Bryant workout. Kobe also gifted them a pair of shoes. You can watch the surprise below:
Give that man the FATHER of the YEAR Award.
The respect Barnes had and still has for Kobe Bryant was vocalized during his appearance on the “Unfiltered” podcast, when Barnes recalled being teammates with the five-time champion:
“Amazing. Really cool, man. Especially because the way it came about. It started back at UCLA when he would come and work out and play. I remember thinking, ‘Damn, he’s only a year-and-a-half older than me? I’m going to have to be able to guard him.’ When I’m at UCLA I’m thinking that. I remember the one year he broke his right hand, so he was up at UCLA doing all left-handed workouts. That was the year he came back shooting left-handed all the time. He was doing his whole workout left-handed and I’m like, ‘This dude is a [expletive] monster.’”
Being a teammate with someone, in some cases, lasts forever. Barnes’ kids will grow up having some pretty cool experiences with their Pops connects.
