THE BLACK MAMBA’S ANALYTICS CALLED THE ELECTION FOR TRUMP WAY BEFORE THE PUNDITS, STATISTICIANS
Kobe Bryant proves to be more than meets the eye off the court as well as on. Of course, no one can ever predict that an elite athlete like Bryant could ever do the kinds of things he did. That transcendence is what made him stand out among his peers. But it turns out that his obsessive analytical drive is more than functional off the court as it was on. Before Kobe retired, he found himself discussing politics with his Lakers teammates while flying and surprised them all when he said trump was the more likely winner of last year’s Presidential election.
TEAMMATE ROY HIBBERT WAS IN DISBELIEF AT KOBE’S PREDICTION OF A TRUMP WIN
As the league was preparing for the season start in The Ringer’s NBA Previewpalooza before tipoff happened this week, center Roy Hibbert made an appearance on The Watch podcast and recounted the scene when Kobe called the 2016 election result before it happened. “One time, he was telling me that he thinks [Donald] Trump is going to win,” Hibbert said. “And I was like, ‘No way!’”
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LAKERS WERE TRAVELING ON TEAM PLANE, TALKING POLITICS, LIFE AND BUSINESS WHEN KOBE MADE THE BOLD (AND ACCURATE) CALL
As Hibbert told the story he and Kobe, while teammates on the Lakers, held a deep conversation about politics, as well as other topics, while traveling on the team plane. “From the flight to L.A. to Philly, we would talk politics,” Hibbert said. “He was very insightful.” “I was in disbelief, I never though a Trump win was possible.”
KOBE’S PREDICTION DESPITE HIS PREFERENCE FOR TRUMP LOSS, BLACK MAMBA DRINK’S NO ONE’S KOOLAID
Hibbert said Kobe did not just accurately predict the presidential election, but explained in some detail to Hibbert why Trump would win, even identifying the states that Hillary Clinton failed to campaign in in person and how that would cost her victory in those states, despite Kobe’s strong preference that she would win, but the analytics didn’t weight out. So of course, after Trump won, Hibbert felt his phone buzz and saw the message from Kobe, “I told you so.”
If you want to watch the whole podcast with Hibbert, click here.