Kobe Bryant Showed Serious Mamba Mentality in an Email to Gordon Hayward

While Michael Jordan may reign supreme when you think of intensely competitive athletes, Kobe Bryant isn't far behind. The late Laker did, after all, model his game after MJ's before coining his own signature "Mamba mentality."

But if you're feeling cynical, you might wonder how genuine those sentiments were. Given that Bryant adopted the "Black Mamba" persona and even sold a Mamba mentality book, maybe it was all a carefully calculated branding exercise.

Well, Charlotte Hornet Gordon Hayward's memories of Bryant seem to shatter that idea. Apparently, the late legend was all business, even in his personal emails.

Let's roll the tape.

Bryant Was All Business With Hayward

At the end of the 2015-16 NBA season, Bryant finally hung up his sneakers. That didn't mean he completely left the game of basketball behind, though.

"I think I was one of the first to work out with him post-retirement," Hayward recalled on Paul George's Podcast P.

"Worked out with him for three days, which was awesome, but then, from then on, you know, he was kind of, like, in my corner," he said. "And he taught me, more than anything, just the mentality. I mean, everyone's talked about it before, but I think that's what really took me to the next level, was that mentality. Just a confidence."

Hayward spoke about how Bryant would text him after games and break down film. But George wanted to run things a bit further back. He asked what Hayward's initial contact with Bryant was like.

The story sounds like something plucked from a sitcom.

"I was at my boy's wedding in Newport, and Kobe had just retired. And we're just sitting there talking, like me and the fellas, and it was mentioned that he lived around that area," Hayward remembered.

"And I was like, 'Man, like wouldn't it be dope if I could work out with Kobe?' And we're just talking about it: 'Yeah, bro, you should hit him up. You should hit him up.' And now, I'm getting, like, nervous, like I'm texting a girl or something," Hayward said.

"But, real talk, I got his number and sent him a text message that was, like, 'Hey, man, like I would love to get in the gym with you and work for two or three days. I can come to you for however much time. Any time that you could give me. Like, I just want to get better, and I want to learn from you.'"

After a nervous wait—Hayward got a text message from his mother, rather than Bryant, during that time—a time and place was agreed on. The two worked out for a few days, and the then-Jazz guard requested that Bryant send his workout plans via email.

While you might think that correspondence would be straightforward—we've all sent messages to our friends that are little more than a generic sentence and an attachment—Bryant carried his usual intensity into the correspondence.

"I had him send me all the workouts he would do in the summers," Hayward continued. "His weight workouts, his track workouts, his shooting workouts. And he wrote the whole thing down in an email and sent it. And I think at the end, he said, 'I know it's a lot of s***, but if you're not trying to be the best, then what the f*** are you playing for?' And that was the way he ended it. And put 'Kobe.'"

As you might expect, Hayward still has that email (he no longer has the initial texts between him and Bryant). And if the closing sentiment wasn't enough, Bryant's attached workouts were three-a-days that focused on putting one's nose to the grindstone.

"It was not complicated at all," Hayward explained. "It was just a lot of makes [making X amount of a shot before moving on to the next one]. And I was probably 90 percent hitting on these shots, and it still probably took me two and a half hours in the gym to do this morning workout. I'm exhausted, I'm drenching wet."

He continued: "And it was supposed to be: Then go back, eat something, go to the track, do sprints, go back, then go do weights, then come back tonight and do another workout like that. And I'm like, 'There is no way you could possibly do this.'"

Bryant, however, did do them. And that's part of what makes him a legend to this day.