Before he walks off the Lakers court for the last time, Kobe Bryant took some time to share stories and celebrate his 20-season career with a roomful of fans last Wednesday at the Conga Room at L.A. Live for an American Express Teamed Up event.

Former teammates Rick Fox and Robert Horry made a surprise appearance to talk about their memories from playing with Bryant and about the three-peat title run they accomplished together.

After the event ended, Fox and Horry talked to For The Win to reminisce even more, which both said they enjoy doing.

Rick Fox on his influence on Kobe:

In December, ESPN’s Baxter Holmes published a story about how Kobe has evolved over 20 seasons in the game. Kobe told Baxter about a very specific moment that involved Fox:

“It was in a meeting at Southwest College [in Los Angeles], and we were having a team meeting and Rick Fox said, ‘Kobe, we just want to feel like you need us,'” Bryant said. “I was like, ‘What the hell is this grown-ass man [saying]? What are you talking [about]?’ But then, it kind of caught me, because it was a very vulnerable thing for him to say, and it helped me have perspective on what he may be going through and what he’s feeling. And then, from that standpoint, it really changed my mentality and how I kind of looked at it, and I’ve been working on it ever since.”

Fox responded to that moment, and he said that although he doesn’t remember the details as clearly as Bryant does, he was happy to hear it.

“It really warmed my heart because in those moments when we were older, and we were veterans and mentors to him, we may not have always said things that he wanted to hear or understood in the moment at the time, but to know that they sunk in and that it shaped him to be the man he was for 20 years in this league afterwards, it makes me feel like we didn’t screw up our little brother,” Fox said.

Rick Fox on what he sees as Kobe’s future:

At the beginning of this season, Fox said that he believes Kobe will play overseas. He still stands by that, but he said he never necessarily meant that he thinks Kobe will play in a pro league. He said he means that Kobe will probably play for Nike events and those sorts of things.

“You’ll see highlights of Kobe playing in a game over in China or something,” Fox said. “I don’t think he’s going to never step on the basketball court again.”

Robert Horry on his favorite moments playing with Kobe:

Horry said his favorite moments from their three-peat run are things most people wouldn’t understand because they were special exclusively to that squad. He gave a couple examples, though:

“Like we’ll be on the court playing and I’m on the defensive end, and he’s playing the person in front of me. And he knows if I yell his name, I’m about to poke the ball loose from the guy I’m guarding because there’s a little move I used to do where he would literally sometimes turn around and I would poke it lose and he would get it and go down court. And I would always get mad because they used to always give him the steal for that. I’d be like, ‘He didn’t knock it loose! I did!’

“Another thing we had, when the other team was shooting free throws, I would give him the nod, and I would take it out and throw him a home run ball for a layup. One of his most famous dunks, that’s my assist. Where he does a 360 and dunks on the dude from Denver, that was me doing the little thing where we’d take the ball out of bounds so fast.”

Robert Horry on how it’ll be strange to not see Kobe on the court:

“It’s weird because I thought I’d see Tim (Duncan) at the end before I saw Kobe. If you look at the way Kobe plays the game, he plays it so effortlessly. He has so many things. He’s so freaking smart that you don’t have to be the guy who’s jumping out of the gym, the guy that’s dunking on everybody. He’s smart enough to play below the rim. I thought he would play until he was like 45, 50. I thought he would be that guy.”

Rick Fox and Robert Horry on what they took away from their NBA careers:

Fox: “Just how beautiful team sports can be. How special it is to share a journey with a group of other people. If you’re fortunate enough, to play for your career or your job, to play sports, develop a bond with a group of teammates and coaches, night in and night out you play a game of basketball that you love, and you play it in front of fans that celebrate the game with you, and they root for you and they boo you and they cheer you. When you do it at the highest level, I haven’t had a feeling in my life that compares it. I had that for three really powerful long years. That’s pretty special.”

Horry: “From just being drafted, and all the great people and all the great men I’ve come across. Having the joy of winning championships, I could be here talking about this for days. Each little moment has meant so much to me. The NBA has put things in my life I never thought I’d be able to do — from the travel to the people I’ve met to the celebrities. I’ve been able to do events on TV and commercials, and all that kind of stuff. It just opened up doors that a little acne-faced snotty-nosed kid from Alabama never thought he’d be able to achieve.”

During the event, the stories were aplenty. A few highlights:

Horry on Bryant’s relentless pursuit of perfection: “I would watch Dream, and Dream was always working on his spin moves and stuff, working on the same things over and over, making that part of his game better. I would watch Tim Duncan in practice, working on that bank shot all the time. But this guy, oh, we know his drive baseline right-hand fadeaway jumper is nice. I never saw him work on it because he knew he had that in his game.”

Fox told the story of how Bryant lifted his daughter’s spirits at the All-Star Game in Toronto. He ended it with heartfelt words of gratitude: “Thank you, Kobe, for always looking beyond yourself and for always taking care of family because that meant the world to me that day.”

Horry said he once taught Bryant how to play Spades on a flight, and it was as great as it sounds.

“I was like, I taught this young guy something! I taught Kobe Bryant something! It was just one of those things. You had all these moments like that,” Horry said. “People always ask, ‘What do you miss most about the game?’ It’s not the actual game. It’s the locker rooms, the bus rides, the plane rides, the camaraderie we had, getting to know each other.”

Bryant again recalled the time he tagged along with Rick Fox to a party and wound up chatting with Jimmy Fallon:

“So me and Jimmy were sitting there talking, and he was talking about what he wants to be, a great actor and host and all sorts of stuff, and I was talking about how I wanted to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And neither one of us could drink.”

Bryant’s final game in a Lakers uniform is set for next Wednesday vs. the Jazz at Staples Center.