Kobe pens essay on passing Jordan: '24 years later, I pass my muse'

Kobe Bryant didn't score at all in his summer league as a 12-year old, a frustrating enough experience that he considered taking his focus off of basketball and putting it on soccer.

He sure has come a long way.

"Twenty-four years later, I pass my muse," Bryant wrote in an essay for The Players' Tribune following Sunday's game, during which he passed Michael Jordan for third on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

The brief essay discusses how Jordan's story of being cut from his high school basketball team served as motivation for Bryant, pushing him to let the experience make him stronger rather than embarrass him. As Bryant writes:

So I decided to take on my challenge the same way he did. I would channel my failure as fuel to keep my competitive fire burning. I became obsessed with proving to my family — and more importantly to myself — that I CAN DO THIS.

It became an obsession. I learned everything about the game, the history, the players, the fundamentals. I wasn’t just determined to never have a summer of zero again, I was driven to inflict the same sense of failure on my competition as they unknowingly inflected on me. My killer instinct to score was born.

And again, 24 years later, he's passed his muse, something Bryant called a huge honor. He also recognized his own uniqueness, good and bad, in signing off:

I would not be the kid that bounced back after zero, and I would not be honoring the man that inspired me to challenge everything.

Thank you all for your love and support, it is much appreciated, even if the villain in me refuses to acknowledge it all the time.

Much Love,

Mamba out

Something tells us the Los Angeles Lakers' superstar's letter won't be as heartfelt if he ever passes Karl Malone for second on the list. That's a major if, though.