When LeBron James joins the Los Angeles Lakers, he also joins a huge list of NBA Hall of Fame legends -- legends who brought 16 NBA Championships to the Lakers, 11 of which came in Los Angeles. Names like Jerry West, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant all helped bring titles to the Lakers and now it is LeBron's turn. One of those names is now running the team in Magic Johnson and another -- Kobe Bryant -- just sent a huge message to James as he joins the Lakers.

Kobe's message to LeBron

As previously reported, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James spoke on the phone before The King made his decision to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. James also visited Magic Johnson's house to talk to him about the opportunity and between those two Lakers' legends, James decided that he wanted to play in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant also congratulated LeBron James after the signing on Sunday by going onto Twitter and welcoming him to the family. Now, as LeBron prepares to join the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe has sent a more personal and special message to LeBron.

Kobe Bryant welcomed LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers and said that he is part of the "family now." Kobe spoke to LeBron the night that he signed on and said that because of this, he is there for LeBron for anything that he needs.

Bryant said "I got you, whatever the case may be," and promised to be there for James.

Kobe Bryant is happy

It seems there is a lot of talk about Kobe Bryant's opinion of LeBron James joining the Lakers, but that is because he is overjoyed at the signing.

Sporting News reports that the Lakers "dreams" are "substantially bigger" now that they have signed James.

Kobe said that when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers, it was Magic Johnson who welcomed him with open arms, along with Shaquille O'Neal. Bryant said that it made him want to carry on the tradition set by men like Magic and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

He said that it is now time to pay it forward as LeBron comes in and tries to do the same thing.

Kobe Bryant said that he had a great run and played in Los Angeles for 20 years. He called it awesome to have fun and win five championships. However, he said that this is now someone else's time to lead the team and that is what the Los Angeles Lakers has always been about. It is LeBron James' time.

Kobe also made a funny comparison, calling Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss the team's "Khaleesi" from "Game of Thrones." He said this is what that is all about.
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