WNBA Players Detail Kobe Bryant's Minicamp: 'He Wanted the Best for the Game'

Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant held a minicamp for a select group of WNBA players in January, according to The Athletic's Alex Schiffer.

Bryant remained close to the game after retiring from the NBA in 2016. Last summer, he worked out with a group of NBA stars including Paul George, Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard at Mamba Sports Academy.

The 18-time All-Star had a similar workout with some WNBA players at the Thousand Oaks, California, facility.

Because of their comparatively low WNBA salaries, many players also play overseas in the offseason, which limited who could attend the minicamp. Those who made the trip were the Las Vegas Aces' Sugar Rodgers, Liz Cambage and Kayla McBride, Los Angeles Sparks guard Chelsea Gray, Dallas Wings guard Moriah Jefferson and Washington Mystics forward Aerial Powers, per Schiffer.

"He just wanted the best for the game," Cambage said. "He didn't see it as a boy or a girl. He saw it as a baller."

Especially after his playing career ended, Bryant became a fixture at WNBA and women's college basketball games and was often joined by his daughter Gianna. In February, Bleacher Report's Mirin Fader documented Gianna Bryant's basketball career and her dreams of playing for the powerhouse Connecticut Huskies and moving on to the WNBA.

Two weeks after the event at Mamba Sports Academy, Kobe and Gianna Bryant were killed in a helicopter crash as they were traveling to Thousand Oaks for one of Gianna's games.

Schiffer reported the hope from those involved is that Bryant's WNBA camp becomes an annual event.