Nine months after the death of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James is revealing his one regret about their friendship.
Kobe played basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers throughout his 20-year career and retired in 2016. Just two years later, LeBron signed a four-year, $153.3 million contract with the Lakers, meaning he barely missed the chance to be teammates with Kobe.
As LeBron was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers and preparing to move to Los Angeles, the two had plans to meet up and swap stories, talk about the Lakers and give advice for living in L.A.
However, they never got around to the meet up—it wasn’t scheduled due to their busy calendars. After Bryant died unexpectedly in a helicopter crash in January along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, LeBron is calling the missed moment one of his biggest regrets.
“Of course, you think there’s going to be time for us to get together and I understand that there are regrets in life, but I definitely wish I had that moment with him,” LeBron told Yahoo Sports. “I do remember when I decided to come here, he sent me a text right away and said, ‘Welcome, brother. Welcome to the family.’ That was a special moment because at the time, Laker faithful wasn’t [fully in on me]. A lot of people were saying, ‘Well, we might not want LeBron at this point in his career,’ and, ‘Is he right? Is he going to get us back [to the Finals]?'”