Kobe Bryant, the man who had everything, didn’t think he had everything.
There was one plaudit he always thought was missing from his resumé, one goal that remained unfulfilled, one dream he chased until the end.
He would talk quietly about it, work tirelessly toward it, and even eventually sacrifice his career for it.
In 2012-2013, at age 34, Bryant played nearly 40 minutes a game in dragging the mediocre Lakers into the playoffs before tearing his Achilles tendon in the final days and essentially ending his time as an NBA superstar.
All for that sixth championship ring.
He desperately wanted, and despaired over not winning, that sixth championship ring.
He wanted to catch Michael Jordan. He wanted to pass Magic Johnson. The ultimate competitor wanted to be considered the ultimate champion.
A sixth championship ring was the one piece of jewelry he always wanted, yet it was the one thing he could never wear, and in the wake of his death Sunday in a helicopter crash, it is perhaps the one thing that could honor him most.
The Lakers know what to do.
As they slowly pull themselves back together in anticipation of restarting their season Friday, there is a sense the Lakers understand their responsibility exactly.
Their directive is to deliver to Kobe Bryant’s memory that sixth ring.
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A Lakers fan sobs at a memorial for Kobe Bryant outside the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans (from left) Alex Fultz, Eddy Rivas and Rene Alfaro gather with others near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center on Sunday after learning of his death. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Martin Yan, 35, of Diamond Bar stands beside of a mural depicting Kobe Bryant on Lebanon Street northeast of Staples Center. Fans are flocking to the area and having photos taken with the mural. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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The investigation continues Tuesday at the crash site in Calabasas where a helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others crashed, killing all aboard. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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The pilot was identified by colleagues as Ara Zobayan, 50, of Huntington Beach. (Bernadette McKeever)
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The Sikorsky S-76B helicopter (N72EX) that crashed in Calabasas. (Geraldine Petrovic / Polaris)
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A tribute to Kobe Bryant is projected on the Los Angeles Times building. (Los Angeles Times)
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A couple pay their respects at a memorial at home plate in honor of Orange Coast College head baseball coach John Altobelli, who perished with wife Keri, and daughter, Alyssa, in Sunday’s helicopter crash with Kobe Bryant. (Don Leach / Daily Pilot)
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Uziel Colon takes a photo of his wife, Maria Home, and daughter Lena with a mural created to honor Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna. The mural is by Art Gozukuchikyan on the side of VEM Exotic Rentals on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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People pay tribute to Kobe Bryant outside the gated community in Newport Coast where his family lives. (Don Leach / Los Angeles Times)
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Kinzo Beachem writes on the cement next to a makeshift memorial for former Lakers player Kobe Bryant at L.A. Live plaza in front of Staples Center. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather outside Staples Center in Los Angeles to mourn the death of Kobe Bryant after news spread that Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among the nine killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Emergency responders cover remains at the site of the helicopter crash that killed nine people including Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna on Sunday in Calabasas. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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From left, Christopher Pena, 33, and his wife Lizbeth, 30, of Pacoima, mourn with Jose Gutierrez, 33, of La Puente, near the site of the Calabasas helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Nancy Fernandez of Van Nuys lights a candle at a memorial for Kobe Bryant at De Anza Park in Calabasas on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans mourn near Staples Center after learning that Lakers great Kobe Bryant had died. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Mourners huddle at L.A. Live, across from Staples Center, site of the home court of Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman kneels at the makeshift memorial to Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A man kisses the ground as Lakers fans gather at a memorial to Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather around a makeshift memorial to Kobe Bryant at L.A. Live on Sunday evening. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Naima Smith, 37, and Swania Hogue, 48, both of Los Angeles, mourn the loss of Kobe Bryant at a vigil in Leimert Park on Sunday. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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A Lakers fan touches a memorial for Kobe Bryant outside the Lakers practice facility in El Segundo on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Mourners gather at the corner of Las Virgenes Road and Willow Glen Street in Calabasas near the site of the helicopter crash. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Naima Smith, 37, lays flowers at a makeshift memorial during a vigil for Kobe Bryant in Leimert Park on Sunday. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans stand near a memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center on Sunday after learning of his death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Naima Smith, 37, center, and other fans mourn the death of Kobe Bryant at a vigil in Leimert Park on Sunday. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans stand near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center on Sunday after learning of his death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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A screen at L.A. Live on Sunday displays an image of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant following his death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Bryant Hirshman is hugged by his father, Craig, and mother, Elena, near the helicopter crash site in Calabasas that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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People gather on Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas near the site of a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Amanda Gordon and her husband, Philip, mourn the death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant near the site of a helicopter crash Calabasas that claimed the lives of the Lakers legend, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Jianing Zhang, right, and his girlfriend Cathy Xiao gather with others near the helicopter crash site in Calabasas that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Large Kobe Bryant memorial signs are illuminated at L.A. Live as fans Aldo Luna and his son Ethan of Pomona gather with others paying their respects outside Staples Center. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Lakers fans mourn the death of Kobe Bryant at a makeshift memorial. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans post sticky notes paying tribute to Kobe Bryant on a mural of the former NBA superstar outside Shoe Palace on Melrose Avenue in L.A. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather at a makeshift memorial outside Staples Center to mourn Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather outside Staples Center at a makeshift memorial to Kobe Bryant. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Kobe Bryant’s No. 8 and No. 24 Lakers jerseys hang in the rafters at Staples Center during preparations for the Grammy Awards on Sunday night. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Call it the Mamba Mandate.
The burden seems extraordinary and unfair, but it’s nothing that Bryant wouldn’t have shouldered himself. The task is large and daunting, but these giant and powerful Lakers seem perfectly built for it.
More than halfway through the season, they have a first-place record, two of the five best players in the world, and the hearty endorsement of Bryant himself.
During what was perhaps his final interview, in a phone call with me nine days before his death, I asked Bryant to evaluate the current team.
He loved them. He thought they could win it all.
“Man, I tell you, I think Rob [Pelinka] has assembled a helluva team, bro,” he said. “I like their size, I like their length, their shooters are coming along just fine, man, I like their chances.”
He said he felt as if they faced but two obstacles.
“The biggest thing for them is just health,” he said, then added, “The Clippers are tough, though. The Clippers are tough. Hopefully we finally get our dream series.”
For the Lakers, the dream would be to stay healthy, survive the charge from their Staples Center roommates, and wind up winning a championship inspired by Bryant.
They are well aware of this. They’re already writing and talking about it.
Although LeBron James has yet to speak publicly about Bryant’s death, he issued an emotion-filled Instagram message that included a vow to Bryant himself.
“I promise you l’ll continue your legacy man!” he wrote, later adding, “It’s my responsibility to put this [bleep] on my back and keep it going!...I got US here!”
This theme continued Wednesday when coach Frank Vogel, the only Laker to speak on their first day of media availability since Bryant’s death, answered two questions about Bryant’s influence on this season.
To the first, he said, “We want to represent what Kobe was about more than anything. We always wanted to make him proud. And that’s not going to be any different here.”
To the second he said, “We want to represent what he stood for. That’s the most important thing for us. We want to represent what he stood for.”
Bryant stood for leadership, which James will need to demonstrate down the stretch. Bryant stood for toughness, which Anthony Davis will need to continue showing. He also stood for shooters, and the Lakers could stand to add another before the trade deadline next week, and this is where Bryant’s former agent, Pelinka, enters the picture.
As much as Bryant endorsed the team in the final interview, he also was backing the strong work of their new president of basketball operations.
When Bryant was being heavily criticized during his career, he said he would be consoled by Pelinka. When Pelinka was being criticized last summer, Bryant said he was doing the consoling.
“Roles are just reversed,” Bryant said. “When I was playing, I would get a lot of [bleep], I would call Rob … and he would just always, say, ‘Listen, just put your head down and do the work’… then when he was getting all the criticism, I said, ‘Rob, remember when I played, put your head down, do the work, do the work.’”
Sure enough, said Bryant, Pelinka has done just that.
“I think he’s done a fantastic job of just keeping his head down and just grinding man, and it’s paying off,” Bryant said.
If the Lakers and their boss can keep grinding, the biggest payoff awaits at the end of what would be surely the most spiritually emotional title run in this city’s sports history.
Can you imagine if they can somehow live up to the Mamba Mandate and win a championship? Can you envision the size of the ceremony celebrating the new Lakers legends for so wonderfully honoring a late Lakers legend?
The first ring would go to Vanessa.
