Will Smith and Kobe Bryant were not just celebrated personalities in their respective fields, but they also shared a mutual admiration for one another. Bryan’s shocking demise in 2020 took the world aback and many celebrities, including the Smiths, mourned the demise of the NBA legend. Jada Pinkett Smith took to Instagram to write a heartfelt message for Bryant and sent her love to the family, post his demise. Even Pinkett Smith’s mom Adrienne Banfield-Norris posted a picture featuring Bryan and his daughter, with a message for the late basketball champ’s wife, Vanessa Marie Bryant.

The Men in Black actor also took to Instagram to share a throwback post for the two-time Olympic gold medal winner. And recently, he re-shared the post on his Instagram story.

Smith re-shared his 3-year-old tribute to Kobe Bryant

Celebrating Bryant’s birthday on August 23, many famous personalities flooded the social media with heartfelt messages. Smith also joined the bandwagon as two days after the event, he took to his Instagram stories to reshare the three-year-old tribute post for the NBA MVP award. There is no denying that though Bryant and Smith were not known to be close friends, they shared a deep admiration and respect for each other. 

Apart from Smith’s wife and mother-in-law, Will Smith’s daughter, Willow Smith, also shared a post on her Instagram story in 2020 in memory of Bryant. In the picture, Bryant was enjoying a game with his daughter Gianna, who also died in the same accident. The ‘Whip My Hair’ singer captioned it, saying “Completely and utterly heartbroken.” 

Smith and Bryant did not just share a mutual admiration, but were also insanely similar to each other. So much so that the NBA giant was famously known as the basketball version of Will Smith. And here is why.

Kobe Bryant: the basketball version of Will Smith

Despite their differing reaction to Chris Rock’s jokes, the celebs shared a history of similarities both in terms of their personal and professional life. For starters, both the celebrities were from Philadelphia and debuted in the industry with established veterans. Apart from that, they both had three consecutive achievements in three consecutive years in the past and also shared a controversial legacy in their respective fields.  

The duo of Will and Jeff dominated the entertainment industry, whereas Kobe’s and Shaq’s partnership made the  2nd-largest 4th quarter comeback in history in the post-MJ era. In Shaquille O’Neal’s book, he mentioned Bryant saying, “I’m going to be the Will Smith of the NBA.” 

What are your thoughts about Smith’s latest Instagram story? Let us know in the comments below.