Vanessa Bryant changes one line in Kobe's new book because of popular 'Mamba Mentality'

This January, the world lost Kobe Bryant to a tragic helicopter accident. Bryant left behind his incredible NBA legacy – having spent 20 years playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, preaching his Mamba Mentality. However, the five-time NBA champion also wrote children's books – three of which came out after his death. In a recent interview, his wife Vanessa Byrant discusses his book Epoca: The River of Sand, and how she ended up changing one line in the book. 

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Vanessa Bryant on changing a line in Kobe's book based on his Mamba Mentality

Vanessa recently talked to the book's co-author Ivy Claire, discussing how she felt a line needed ot be changed to suit Bryant's Mamba Mentality. "I remember there was one line of this book that said, 'Friends come first, practice comes second'," Vanessa says, adding how that was the line she wanted to be changed. 

She explains how Bryant would never agree to it, because she remembers him telling the kids to practise, as their "friends will be there" afterwards. Bryant, who was known to rely on his Mamba Mentality on the court, once spoke about practices on Pardon My Take podcast, and how they are meant to be competitive. As per Bryant, if anything was not competitive, one was doing something wrong. 

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In an interview with a magazine, Bryant had revealed that he did so to separate himself. He felt that there were a lot of things surrounding him at once and everything became very confusing for him. In order to organize everything, Bryant created 'The Black Mamba'. 

The Lakers legend has also explained the process behind his Mamba Mentality. The NBA star wanted to destroy everyone on the court and needed to let out all his pent up frustration. Wanting nothing to get in his way, Bryant was determined to be unstopabble. His thought process is also immortalized in the book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, originally published in 2018. 

Also read | How Kobe Bryant gave himself different edge on court with Mamba mentality

Bryant's other book The Wizenard series: Season 1, released earlier this year. The book is Bryant's final creative work in the Wizenard series and picked up from where the last book The Wizenard Series: Training Camp ended. The final book, co-authored by Wesley King, soon became the No.1 Amazon best-seller in Children's Basketball Books.

Also read | Vanessa Bryant Instagram account shows how much Kobe Bryant loved being a 'girl dad'

(Image credits: AP, Kobe Bryant Instagram)