The Los Angeles Dodgers reportedly used a 2017 video of Kobe Bryant as part of their pitch to two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.
The Dodgers were always viewed as the favorites to win the 2023 Ohtani free agent sweepstakes. Last Saturday, the two-time AL MVP signed a record-setting 10-year deal with Los Angeles worth $700 million.
According to Alden Gonzalez and Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Dodgers used a recorded video of the Lakers legend in 2017 as part of their pitch to the 29-year-old. The video of the five-time NBA Champion was filmed before Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017, and the Dodgers kept the secret video hidden until it was time recruit the best player in the world:
Back in 2017, Bryant had filmed the clip as a favor to the team. Now, more than three years after his death in a helicopter crash, Bryant’s reputation as the ultimate competitor spans all sports, and his message to Ohtani registered the same posthumously in 2023 as it would have then: There’s no better place in the world to win than Los Angeles, and there’s no better team in baseball to win with than the Dodgers.
“That was one of the highlights of the whole meeting,” Ohtani told ESPN through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. “I was really surprised to see it. It was a strong and touching message.”
When Bryant said Ohtani’s name, it took him aback. They never met, but Ohtani marveled at his commitment, to his craft, to his sport, to his team. Mizuhara, who is as much consigliere to Ohtani as the conduit for his words, grew up in Los Angeles and understood what it meant for Bryant to vouch for the Dodgers. A minute of his time, of the presence he still casts, felt like a wonderful eternity.
Ohtani’s $700 million deal with the Dodgers is the richest contract in the history of professional sports, surpassing the $674 million USD deal that Lionel Messi signed with Barcelona FC. Previously, the richest contract in MLB history was Mike Trout’s $426.5 million pact with the Los Angels.
Bryant spent his entire NBA career with the Lakers, which spanned from 1996 to 2016. Tragically, Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, died in a helicopter crash at the age of 41 on Jan. 26, 2020.
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The crash also claimed the lives of pilot Ara Zobayan, baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa, basketball coach Christina Mauser, basketball player Payton Chester and her mother, Sarah.
