Toni Kukoc reveals his favorite Kobe Bryant moment regarding load management: “He said that some people saved money all year just to be able to see him play” originally appeared on Basketball Network.
It’s already been five years since we lost one of the greatest players in basketball history. Of course, we’re talking about Kobe Bryant. But what will never fade is his aura, his mentality, and his approach to life.
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The Black Mamba will forever be remembered as the ultimate competitor and a man who put basketball above everything else. Bryant played during the transition from the ’90s into the 2000s — an era many still consider the toughest in the history of the NBA. And he didn’t just play, he dominated.
Kukoc was impressed with Kobe’s approach to load management
Toni Kukoc, a teammate of Kobe’s idol Michael Jordan during the Chicago Bulls’ championship run, knew precisely what kind of player Jordan was, and how much Kobe wanted to be like him. Speaking to Index.hr, Kukoc recalled a Bryant quote that left a lasting impression on him.
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“I really liked the sentence Kobe Bryant said when they asked him why he was playing with a broken finger,” Kukoc recalled. “He said that some people saved money all year just to be able to see him play, and because of that, he couldn’t allow himself not to be on the court. That quote has basically become a guiding principle for the NBA today, fans deserve to see the best players, especially when they’re paying so much for tickets.”
Kobe represented a time when players left everything they had on the floor
Both Kukoc and Bryant came from the toughest era in NBA history, when scoring averages were at their lowest and the game was far more physical than it is today. It was a different time, especially compared to the current trend of “load management.”
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Most people will agree that it’s smart to rest your best players occasionally during the grueling 82-game regular season, so they’re fresh for the playoffs. But it’s hard to believe that the nostalgia for that old-school mentality will ever disappear. Kobe represented a time when players left everything they had on the floor.
Just like he modeled everything after Jordan, Bryant also learned how to avoid load management by sitting and adjusting.
“One of the things I learned from MJ when it comes to doing second nights of back-to-backs or when it’s the fourth game in five nights, you can alter your game a little bit,” Bryant once said on ESPN’s First Take. “I might be on the perimeter in the first two games, now I’ll slide down to the post. I’m gonna play a little closer to the basket. I’ll play off the ball a little bit more, right? So there are ways where you can kind of alter your game where you can get rest within the game but still be efficient.”
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It’s unlikely we’ll ever witness another era quite like that again
The little secrets of the great masters. Fans would love to see today’s superstars follow the example of two legendary shooting guards, but it’s unlikely we’ll ever witness another era quite like that again.
The NBA is simply headed in a direction where roster depth is more important than ever when building a championship team. New financial rules, including the second apron, reinforce this, and superstars today rely more on their role players than ever.
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It’s hard to argue that it wouldn’t make more sense for the biggest stars to enter the playoffs rested and healthy. But even today, it’s tough to imagine the Black Mamba approaching the game that way. Kobe was simply cut from a different cloth.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared.