Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s FIBA World Cup performance is reminiscent of Kobe Bryant’s

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, along with a few other former Arizona Wildcats, are working hard to get back to the NBA. He’s been working on his game, and it shows in his FIBA World Cup performances that resemble the late Kobe Bryant.

Many of the media including Brian Windhorst have written and spoken about watching Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and thinking they are watching the late Kobe Bryant.

Rondae was drafted 23rd overall in the 1st round of the 2015 NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers and traded to the Brooklyn Nets as he signed a four-year contract. After the 2019 season, Hollis-Jefferson signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors where he teamed up with his former Arizona teammate Stanley Johnson.

I remember being at the NBA Summer League games in Vegas that year and was explaining to the Raptors fans in the stands why those two were so special. The fans then turned around and begged them both for autographs and selfies. The smiles were endless.

After Toronto, RHJ signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 3, 2020. Two weeks later, he was waived. Five months later, he signed a 10-day contract with the Portland Trail Blazers, and another one, and then finished the season with the Blazers in 2021.

As a free agent, he went through some low times per ABS-CBN News, “Once I was out the league, I had to reevaluate myself… I was in the Green Room. I feel like I was on a pedestal… Not being in the NBA, not having a roster spot woke me up to humble myself.”

After the Blazers, Rondae traveled to Turkey to play for Beşiktaş for the 2021-2022 season in the BSL where he averaged 15.3 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.3 steals.

That leads us to now, where Rondae is competing in the FIBA World Cup for Jordan as a naturalized citizen. Jordan is in Group C with New Zealand and Greece, alongside the United States. He went viral on social media following his performance against Greece, in which he scored 39 points and collected nine rebounds.

The first post I saw was on TikTok, where the poster was talking about how much he looked like Kobe; his moves, his shots, his hair, everything.

In a post by ESPN Writer and NBA guru Brian Windhorst titled “How Rondae Hollis-Jefferson reinvented himself as a Kobe clone for Jordan,” he stated, “If Bryant were in Manila this summer, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson would probably have captured his attention. Hollis-Jefferson has emerged as the epitome of what makes the World Cup fascinating and has done it with a version of Mamba Mentality that honors Bryant’s memory and has captured the hearts of Filipino fans.” Windhorst called Hollis-Jefferson’s performance “Breathtaking.”

Rondae commented to Eurohoopsnet on his resemblance to Kobe post-game, “Shabazz Napier tells me to take a DNA test.” He also recounted a Kobe story where he presented a gift to Kobe during his farewell season in the NBA to Karol Sliwa. That night the GM assigned Rondae to be the player to give Kobe his gift from the team. In response, Kobe signed a jersey for his grandmother, and when Rondae asked him for advice, Kobe told him “‘Fall in love with the elbow.’ And that’s what I do.”

USA won Group C early this morning with a win against Rondae’s team. Rondae still put up some impressive stats:

I think everyone agrees that the NBA needs to take another good look at Rondae and give him another shot, including us.

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