Back in 2006, late NBA legend Kobe Bryant said in an interview with reporters: “I wouldn’t mind being Jewish. I wouldn’t mind. Really” and even played with the notion of converting reports the JPost.

The 41-year-old Bryant died in a tragic helicopter accident near Los Angeles on Sunday.

The statement came in response to a sports reporter’s question about the under-representation of Jewish athletes in professional sports.

Bryant, was skeptical responding: “Not too many Jews in professional sports? Hmmm. That sounds kind of weird to me. Who did your research?” Finding himself at a loss of words, the TV reporter tried to change the subject to discussing the 2005/2006 MVP prospects.

Another Jewish journalist from The Boston Globe, wasn’t having any of it insisting: “we are very good at squash.”

“There were three hockey players at my college who were Jewish,” she added. “How ’bout that? All on one team”.

At that point, another Jewish journalist chimed in saying: “The Red Sox have four Jews including (general manager) Theo Epstein,”

“What the hell? Who was doing your research,” Bryant grilled the TV reporter in a facetious manner. “Put the camera back on, man.” Kobe, then accused the reporter of spreading fake news saying: “This guy is false man. This guy is lyin”.

“You’re getting shot down all over the place right now, buddy,” Bryant continued. “It ain’t lookin’ too good for you at all.” At that point, the names of various pro-Jewish athletes kept getting fired off including basketball star Dolph Schayes, his son Danny who Kobe added. Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg were also mentioned causing Bryant to respond:”Oh it ain’t lookin’ too good for you at all,”

At this point, Kobe mulled the notion of converting saying: “I don’t know if I’m converting, but if I do, you can definitely add another athlete to the pool.”

It should be noted that the name ‘Kobe’ is a commonly used nickname for the name Yakov (Jacob).