London: Kobe Bryant is fulfilling a lifelong sports dream in London, and it has nothing to do with basketball.
Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers are in town to open their pre-season against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the O2 Arena today in the opener of the NBA's annual European tour. But it's the opportunity to watch some Premier League football that has the finals MVP feeling like a child again.
Bryant was planning to be at Stamford Bridge yesterday to watch the match between London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal, one of the highlights of the English football calendar.
"When I was a kid growing up in Italy, my dream was — I used to go to Serie A games all the time, but I wanted to go watch a Premier game," Bryant said after the Lakers' finished practice on Saturday.
"And my mom would never let me go. I wanted to go watch Liverpool and stuff like that, and she was like ‘No, you're not going.'
"So now to finally have an opportunity some 20 years later to go watch a Premier game is incredible."
Many European basketball fans feel the same way about the chance to watch Bryant and the Lakers — by far the most high-profile team to embark on the overseas tour.
However, the performance may not be of the same calibre as watching the team that won its second straight NBA title in July. Bryant is still recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in the off season, centre Andrew Bynum is injured and the rest of the team is shaking off the rust from the off season.
"We're a little bit shy of our big guns, so to speak," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "But we'll have plenty of players to showcase."
Centre Pau Gasol cautioned that "it's the first game of the preseason, so it won't be the most attractive game."
But, he added, since the Lakers are still the Lakers, "you always have to play like the champs."
Bryant's knee didn't show any adverse effects from the trans-Atlantic flight, as he completed the full practice session at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in south London.
In only his second scrimmage since training camp began, he looked sharp at times. Bryant drained a 3-pointer and fade-away jumper on back-to back possessions during a full court game.