John Wall Surprised by Chat from Kobe Bryant

Bryant often makes a point to have post-game words with young players who impress him (especially after the Lakers win), and last night, it was John Wall‘s turn. The WaPo reports: “Wall seemed to relish in keeping the crowd stunned, as he flashed his tongue to fans on the front row after a driving layup and smiled after every time he broke down the defense to set up one of his career-high 14 assists. That level of enthusiasm caught the attention of Bryant, who said after the Lakers’ 115-108 win, ‘He was good. He’s fast and he’s crafty.’ ‘It’s great to hear from Kobe,’ Wall said after scoring 22 points and adding three blocked shots. ‘That’s going to keep motivating me to keep working hard and keep trying getting better. To talk to somebody who is the greatest player in the game, I was kind of surprised. Most of the time, you see a star like that, he’s not no arrogant person, but they usually go back to the locker room after a great win. For him to call me over there meant a whole lot. He’s somebody I looked up to ever since I was in middle school and high school. It was a great honor.'”