Kobe Bryant still talks Lakers with Rob Pelinka, whose kids he takes trick-or-treating

Kobe Bryant is (extremely) happily living out his retirement from the NBA, but that doesn’t necessarily mean his presence isn’t felt at all by those still with the Los Angeles Lakers. Rob Pelinka, his long-time agent, is still the team’s general manager and according to Kobe, the two speak fairly often about the Lakers.

Bryant sat down for an interview with Rich Eisen of “The Rich Eisen Show” and, when Eisen asked how often Bryant and Pelinka discuss the Lakers, Kobe’s answer went in an unexpectedly heartfelt direction:

Eisen: How often do you give your thoughts on the Laker roster to your former agent (Rob Pelinka)?

Bryant: Every time Rob calls me. Look, Rob and I have been friends forever. He’s Godfather to (Bryant’s daughter) Gianna, and so we’ll talk. Sometimes I’ll call just to check on him and see how he’s doing. Because when I played during the season, he’d have to pick up for me, with my family.

I’d miss Halloween, Christmas, so he’d go out with my family and stuff when he was my agent, so now it’s just kind of reversed. So when he’s on the road, I’ll spend time with his family and take them out trick-or-treating and all that good stuff.

Set aside the Lakers stuff for just a second. This relationship between Bryant and Pelinka is really cool to see, and exactly the kind of thing the Lakers talk about when they say they want to offer a familial culture to those involved with the organization.

Can we spend a little while trying to figure out what Kobe would dress up as while he takes Pelinka’s kids out for Halloween? Yes, he probably goes out in typical casual wear, but still, it’s way for fun to think of Kobe dressing up as Dumbledore or something like that.

If I had to make a guess, I’d probably see Kobe in some kind of vampire get-up. It just seems like the kind of thing Kobe would rock just to remind everyone he refuses to age. Another fun one would just somehow dressing up as a ring for, um, no reason whatsoever.

I all seriousness, I can’t help but wonder what kind of advice Kobe offers and how much those two cents are taken into account for the Lakers’ actual decision-making process. Until we get that information (which is unlikely, to be honest), I’m going to go back to picturing Kobe dressed up as Ron Weasley.