clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Episode 5 of ‘The Last Dance’ will reportedly be dedicated to Kobe Bryant

Bryant’s interview for the ESPN documentary series was filmed last summer.

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Kobe Bryant Classics Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Sunday, April 26, marked the three-month of anniversary of the day that Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other people were tragically killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. Everyone has tried their best to heal at their own pace since that heartbreaking January morning, but every now and then there is a cruel reminder that Bryant is longer with us, like when he was officially voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last month.

On Sunday, we’ll get another one of those reminders.

According to Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times, the fifth episode of the wildly-popular ESPN documentary series, “The Last Dance,” will be dedicated to Bryant, who modeled his game after the primary subject of the documentary series, Michael Jordan.

Thus far, the series has jumped back and forth between seasons, but the team it follows the closest is the 1997-78 Bulls. That same season, a 19-year-old Bryant made his first NBA All-Star game, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see that used as the segue for Bryant’s interview.

However, the relationship between Bryant and Jordan went beyond basketball, as we all discovered during Kobe and Gianna’s memorial service last month.

“Maybe it’s a surprise to people that Kobe and I were very close friends, but we were very close friends,” a tearful Jordan said at Bryant’s memorial service at Staples Center on in February. “Kobe was my dear friend, he was like a little brother. Everyone always wanted to talk about the comparisons between he and I — I just wanted to talk about Kobe.”

Expect that relationship to be explored further on Sunday’s episode, with some footage that’s never been seen before. It might hurt to watch now that Bryant’s gone, but it might be nice to look back at the time we had with him.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @RadRivas.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Silver Screen & Roll Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Los Angeles Lakers news from Silver Screen & Roll