When Kobe Bryant plays in the final game of his NBA career later this season, the Staples Center is going to be packed. It’s so hard to get a ticket to the game that Gilbert Arenas just asked the Lakers if they would be willing to sign him to a 10-day contract so that he would be able to attend it. It seems there are going to be two people who are closely connected to Kobe who will not be there, though—his parents Joe and Pam.

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As we told you yesterday, Kobe sat down for a one-on-one interview with Andrea Kremer recently that aired on HBO’s Real Sports last night. He talked about all kinds of things during it, but one of the things that stood out to us appeared in a bonus clip that HBO posted on YouTube. In it, Kobe admitted that his relationship with his parents is strained at the moment. If you remember, his parents auctioned off a bunch of his old memorabilia back in 2013, made about $500,000 off it, and then got into a pretty heated legal battle with him. And it sounds like Kobe and his parents still aren’t seeing eye-to-eye as a result of it.

“The relationship with family is extremely important,” he said when Kremer asked him if he plans on trying to make amends with his parents once his career is over. “You also can’t force things. And so, I hope and I pray that one day things will be better between us. Unfortunately, today is not that day.”

Kobe also said that he doesn’t think his parents will end up being at the Staples Center when he suits up for his final NBA game.

“I’ve thought about it,” he said. “I’m not sure. Probably not.”

Let’s hope that’s not the case. Kobe hasn’t spoken much about his relationship with his parents in recent years, so it's impossible to tell just how good or bad it actually is. But it would obviously be a real shame if they weren’t there to see him play for the final time.

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