Celebrity News August 23, 2018
Kobe Bryant Weighs In on LeBron James’ Lakers Era, Plus: His Take on Daughters Dating
“Extra's” Mario Lopez sat down with NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who is still working hard after his NBA retirement.
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Along with promoting his latest project, “The Punies,” Bryant shared his take on LeBron James signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers legend said of LeBron's move, “I think they're building the team smartly, they're building strong physical players... What I mean by that is they don't have players that are one-dimensional... 'Cause you can't beat [the] Golden State [Warriors] by playing Golden State-style — just not going to happen.”
Basketball aside, Bryant is enjoying his new career as a Hollywood producer. His newest project is “The Punies,” an inspirational podcast for kids. Kobe said, “The main character is Pete Dawson, who earns the nickname Puny Pete. The other character opposite of him is Bea Bea... My idea was to make them picture books, then every Fourth of July as a family we watch 'The Sandlot,' so I am watching 'The Sandlot' and I'm like, 'We need a sports movie like this for kids… then Thanksgiving came and every Thanksgiving we watch 'The Peanuts Thanksgiving Special'… and I just go, 'Huh, Puny, Bea Bea, Peanuts, Sandlot, we're gonna do this, I'm doing this.'”
Kobe also opened up about life at home with his wife Vanessa and their three girls, Natalia, 15, Gianna, 12, and Bianka, 20 months. He admitted, “Oh, my God, dude, it's scaring me so much, Natalia's 15, just got her permit… Palpitations, so hard you might see them through the shirt.”
“Gianna is 12," he went on, "and she's practicing playing basketball every single day… And then Bianka is going through the 'I love running through the house naked' phase…Vanessa will be sitting in the house and she'll have her diaper on and she's trying to take it off and she goes, 'Don't take it off!' and [Bianka] goes 'pshhhh-pshhhh,' runs… Like, what are you doing? So they're doing great.”
What's his solution when it comes to his daughters dating? Kobe commented, “It's a father thing. If you put rules down, they will just go against the rules… I'm just gonna keep them really, really busy, insanely, extremely busy.”
Kobe just turned 40, saying, “Wisdom comes with that, that's what they say — so do white hairs.”
“The Punies” premieres Saturday on Apple's Podcast app, Google Play, Spotify, plus more.