Watch: Stefon Diggs honors Kobe Bryant with cleats, TD celebration

Senior reporter

Sun, Dec 17, 2017, 8:42 PM

Kobe Bryant will have both his No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys retired by the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, at halftime of their game against the Golden State Warriors. One day before the ceremony, which will draw the attention of the entire sports world, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs showed just how far Bryant’s influence stretches.

Diggs is a football player, but a Kobe guy. In honor of Monday’s occasion, he broke out some custom Kobe cleats for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals:

The homie @stefondiggs is honoring his favorite player @kobebryant just in time for his number retirement tomorrow night with the custom Bruce Lee Kobe V cleats today. Let’s wrap up the north today. #skol @Vikings pic.twitter.com/TJt1GmTVWY
— Mache Custom Kicks (@MACHE275) December 17, 2017

In the second quarter, Diggs got in the end zone. He reeled in a 20-yard pass from Case Keenum to put the Vikings up 24-0.

Stefon Diggs wore custom Kobe 5 “Bruce Lee” cleats one day before Kobe Bryant’s jersey retirement ceremony. (Getty)

Perhaps he forgot about Kobe for just a second, because he hurled the ball out of the end zone. But then he found his “defender,” Jerick McKinnon. He posted him up. And we can only imagine he drained this Kobe-esque, turnaround, fadeaway jumper over the running back, even though there was no ball to actually shoot: