PHILADELPHIA — In the bowels of the Wells Fargo Center, a man wearing a black jacket and carrying a mysterious past cupped Kobe Bryant’s right hand in his, pulled him close, and hugged him warmly.
It was late on the night of Dec. 1, 2015, a couple of hours after the 76ers had beaten the Los Angeles Lakers in Bryant’s final basketball game in Philadelphia. He had announced that he was retiring at the end of that season, his 20th with the Lakers. The revelation had transformed the team’s schedule into a farewell tour for him, and he was feted in no other NBA city that season like he was that night: a latticework of soft pretzels awaiting him at his locker, courtesy of the Sixers’ training staff; a pregame ceremony and jersey presentation featuring Julius Erving and Bryant’s coach at Lower Merion High School, Gregg Downer; dozens of his Lower Merion teammates and classmates in attendance, several of them crowding close to Bryant now in the game’s aftermath, including the man in the black jacket.
The mystery was not in the man’s identity. He was still as lean and lithe as he’d been in high school. A thin, fuzzy beard carpeted his face. Everyone there knew who he was. Everyone liked him. Some knew him well, or believed they did.
