Kobe Bryant is somewhat of a unique player in that he enjoys being the villain at a time when so many athletes and personalities strive be loved. But like some other successful athletes, Bryant is motivated by hatred and feeds off others disliking him.
After his legendary 60-point performance in his final NBA game, Bryant was asked about the effect hate has had on his career.
“It was extremely necessary for me, because that’s what I fed off of,” said Bryant. “To be embraced would have been like Kryptonite for me, because the darkness, those dark emotions are what I used to drive me. That isolation — that’s what I grew up comfortable in. So I would refuse to allow anything else but that create some type of animosity. To just continue to use that as fuel to propel me forward. It was extremely, extremely necessary. If you wanted to beat me all you had to do was embrace me at that time. I would have been done.”
And it showed in Bryant’s personality. He never showed vulnerability or a soft side until this season when he knew he was retiring. Prior to that, he played the villain and embraced it. He prided himself on being considered an A-hole. Now we know why; he needed to be a jerk in order to fuel his success.
