🤔 Russell: I was like a fan when I first entered the league. Kobe activated my killer genes

Basketball     8:57pm, 1 June 2025

Recently, Nets star Russell visited Yang Kan's podcast to talk about the ball.

When talking about Kobe, Russell said: "He was a 'killer', and my confidence was developed from my youth, but when I saw him full of confidence, I was inspired and kept going. When I failed or failed to do something, I would be in pain, and if I could, I would try 'suicide'.

"I was still a rookie in Kobe's last year, and I only caught up with the end of his career, and I remember someone saying 'you have Kobe, you saw Kobe laughing, he never laughed (before) so you were lucky that you saw Kobe kind Kobe'. I have seen both kinds of Kobe. Kobe kept glaring at me and getting angry because I was defending Lillard at the time. I was just watching Lillard, and I was completely unprepared. I remember he shot 10 threes on my head and I just watched one by one. The coach asked for a timeout, and Kobe asked me, "Do you just let him vote like this?" ’ Then he started to defend Lillard and taught me how to defend inseparably.

"I was still playing with a fan mentality at that time. When my rookie season ended, I wouldn't have this mentality. At that time, I would think that I was not your fan, and I don't care who you are. Kobe was like activate my killer genes. I wanted to win everything, and this was influenced by Kobe."