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- Michael Jordan shared the final text exchange he had with Kobe Bryant before his death.
- In it, Jordan jokes about Bryant's future as a coach, since he was coaching his daughter's team.
- Jordan said he still looks back on the messages from time to time.
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NBA legend Michael Jordan still looks back on his final text exchange with Kobe Bryant.
Speaking with ESPN's Jackie MacMullan, Jordan explained that even though it hurts to read the messages, he occasionally scrolls through them to remember the player and friend he once referred to as his "little brother."
Jordan said he can't bring himself to delete the texts or Kobe's number from his phone.
Jordan's final exchange with Bryant was simple and light-hearted, with the two men checking in on each other's families and joking about Bryant's potential future as a coach.
Here is the exchange, as ESPN describes it:
"This tequila is awesome," Kobe texted, referring to Jordan's Cincoro Tequila, a bottle of which was sent to Bryant when it launched.
"Thank you, my brother," Jordan responded.
"Yes, sir. Family good?" Kobe replied.
"All good. Yours?"
"All good."
Jordan smiled, then decided to have a little fun. "He was really into coaching Gigi," MJ explains, "so I hit him up about that."
"Happy holidays," Jordan texted back, "and hope to catch up soon. Coach Kobe??!"
"I added that little crying/laughing emoji," Jordan chuckles.
"Ah, back at you, man," Kobe wrote. "Hey, coach, I'm sitting on the bench right now, and we're blowing this team out. 45-8."
"I just love that text," Jordan told MacMullan, "because it shows Kobe's competitive nature."
The text conversation took place in December 2019, just over a month before Bryant's death in a helicopter crash, which also killed his daughter Gianna as well as seven others.
Bryant was officially inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, and Jordan attended the ceremony. He stood with Bryant's wife, Vanessa, as she accepted the honor for her late husband.
Jordan told MacMullan that he was honored when Vanessa asked him to be part of the moment.
"It's going to be a great honor, to be honest. It's like standing up for a family member," Jordan said. "He paid me the highest respect by trying to emulate certain things I did. And I can only repay that by showing my support and admiration for a guy who I felt was one of the greatest to ever play the game."