'He Used To Say I Wanna Die Young': Tracy McGrady Reveals Kobe Talked About Premature Death
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - Kobe Bryant may have been shooting for immortality long before his life was tragically cut short.
In an appearance Monday on ESPN's "The Jump", former NBA scoring champ Tracy McGrady recalled Bryant telling him that he wanted to die at a young age.
"This sounds crazy but Kobe spoke this, he spoke this, He used to say all the time, 'I wanna die young'," said McGrady. "He used to say, 'I want to be immortalized, I wanna have my career, be better than Michael Jordan, and I wanna die young', and I just thought he was so crazy for saying that."
Despite recurring health issues that prematurely ended McGrady's career, both he and Bryant were considered two of the game's preeminent scorers in their respective primes.
The two shared a common past and a friendly rivalry: they were both rookies drafted straight o5ut of high school, Bryant with the Lakers and McGrady with the Toronto Raptors.