When news of Kobe Bryant’s tragic accident hit, the world basically stopped. It’s the type of stuff that doesn’t process immediately, as some part of your brain just doesn’t accept that it’s real.
The tributes that followed came from every corner of the world. Former teammates, rivals, friends, fans, and heads of state ー everyone had something to say about the Los Angeles Lakers legend. Among them was Jimmy Fallon, the late-night talk show host who had the privilege of meeting Kobe long before the championships and All-Star selections.
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Kobe and Jimmy went on a beer run
Bryant was selected by the Charlotte Hornets 13th overall in the 1996 Draft. However, it’s widely known that Jerry West was the puppet master behind that selection, as the Lakers GM already had a pre-arranged deal to send Vlade Divac to Charlotte for that pick.
As West would always say, Bryant’s game was made for Hollywood. He was flashy, skilled, and had a singular goal to be great. So, as soon as the Kobe-Vlade deal was done, KB had to get himself acclimated with the party scene in L.A. He met Fallon in one of those shindigs and bonded for life over the act of saving a party that ran out of booze.
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“I met Kobe when he was 17 and I was 21,” Fallon said on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” “He was a rookie with the Lakers and I was starting out on the comedy scene in L.A. We were at a party and we don’t know anyone at the party, so we started talking… We got along, we hit it off.”
“Then, the guy who was having the party says, ‘Who wants to make a beer run?’ And Kobe wasn’t drinking at 17, so he goes, ‘I’ll do it.’ He said, ‘Jimmy, you wanna come?’ ‘Okay.’ And he’s brand new in L.A. and me too,” added the late-night show host.
And so the adventure began. The pair drove into Sunset Boulevard in Kobe’s Land Cruiser and saw a place called Pink Dot. The place sold beer, alright, but only for delivery; they don’t sell right off the bat like a convenience store.
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This was where being with the Purple and Gold had its perks. Kobe brought out his ID, pinned it on the glass and told the guy inside, ‘I’m a Laker.’ And it worked. The duo managed to get hold of five cases of beer, which they brought back to save the party.
But the occasion was not exactly joyful. Fallon was recounting the story in the wake of Kobe’s passing, and the weight of that loss hung over every word. Still, a teary-eyed Jimmy said his goodbye by circling back to their adventure together in 1996.
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“Kobe, when we meet again, we’re going on a beer run,” Fallon concluded.
Girl dads
Bryant was with his daughter, Giannia, and seven others when the helicopter they boarded crashed in the hills of Calabasas on January 26, 2020. Kobe was particularly close to Gigi because he coached her basketball team and served as her personal trainer.
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Kobe had three other girls: Natalia, Bianka, and Capri. Bianka was only 3 and Capri, seven months old, when he passed away.
Coincidentally, Fallon was a girl dad himself. He has two daughters, Winnie and Frannie, and that shared identity gave Jimmy and Kobe their unique bonding moment whenever they bump into each other.
Kobe had spoken openly in his final years about how much his daughters softened him and how fatherhood gave him a dimension that basketball never could. For Fallon, who knew teenage Kobe long before he became a father, looking at that angle made the tragedy even harder to process.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jun 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.