After striking up a friendship with the late, great Kobe Bryant, actor Miles Teller couldn’t help but share his basketball prowess with the NBA legend, even though his skills were relegated to a video game.
During an appearance on the New Heights podcast, Teller recounted how he and Bryant connected over the Los Angeles Lakers star’s love of his breakthrough role in the critically acclaimed film, Whiplash. After Bryant gave him a follow on social media, the two of them regularly exchanged messages, and Teller used the opportunity to showcase his achievements in the famed NBA 2K video game series.
“I was like, damn, I gotta send him a message, so I sent him a message, not expecting a response. He responded almost immediately,” Teller explained. “It went from, like, exchanging Twitter messages to him giving me [his] phone number. I used to send him screenshots of me playing 2K. ‘Messed around and got a triple-double today, dude.’ And he goes, ‘That’s a good day.’ Kobe was the man.”
Teller had tweeted a message of gratitude to Bryant after he praised Whiplash in an interview:
From there, the rest is history, as the 38-year-old had the chance to get to know Bryant on a personal level before his death on Jan. 26, 2020.
Teller has continued his support of the Lakers, so he is surely excited about their 8-3 start to the 2025-26 season. Los Angeles will face the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder (11-1) on Wednesday night.
