Me introducing my boys to Kobe in Portland…The year? Hmmm…Musta bin 2001…I think…Klay was too shy to go back there to meet him…So just Mykee n Trayce met him pic.twitter.com/ypFUAuPRCD — Mychal Thompson (@champagnennuts) January 28, 2020

Mychal Thompson, father of the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson, posted a poignant photo of the first time he took his sons to meet Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Except Klay isn’t in the photo.

Klay was too shy to meet Bryant, according to his father, who won two championships with the Lakers. Instead, Klay’s brothers Mychel and Trayce stand hesitantly in the locker room setting in front of the star. Mychal estimates the photo was taken in Portland in 2001 during the Lakers’ championship season.

Klay idolized Bryant, who would later work with the budding basketball talent beginning in high school. And of course, Klay would later play Bryant between 2012-2016 as a member of the Warriors.

In his last season, Bryant gave Klay his jersey and wrote: “To Klay, it’s been a pleasure watching you grow into the player you are! Keep going!”

Kobe Bryant gives Klay Thompson autographed, game-worn jersey after win over GSW https://t.co/TsjUdJB7iN pic.twitter.com/ig5PO2SRr6 — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 7, 2016

Mychal Thompson on his son Klay: "I told him he reminds me of Kobe, the way he plays through his injuries… He was so flattered that I gave him that comparison." pic.twitter.com/hLVHdFqKDJ — Chris Montano (@gswchris) January 29, 2020

Mychal also gave Klay the ultimate compliment when he told him he reminds him of Kobe, “the way he plays through his injuries.”

Unlike some of his Warriors’ teammates, including Steph Curry and Draymond Green, Klay has yet to make a public statement on the loss of Bryant.