It's probably too much to ask of Kobe Bryant that he only moderately care for "Harry Potter." As it turns out, according to the latest issue of GQ, the Lakers star isn't just a fan -- he's a mega-fan whose involvement runs very, very deep.
GQ put together a timeline of instances where Bryant has either professed or demonstrated his love for the fantasy series, and the list is long. He's met all the cast, and done so with a giant smile on his face. He's arranged for private visits to some of the shops and locations at Orlando's "Harry Potter World."
He's named at least two of his dogs after characters or spells from the book series, and name-dropped Harry Potter on at least three different episodes of "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Even one of this shoes, the Nike Zoom Kobe VII, is nicknamed the "Invisibility Cloak."
When he attended the 2012 Olympics in London, competing on the Team USA basketball team, Bryant told GQ that "I felt like Harry Potter going to Hogwarts."
Four years earlier, with his Lakers down 3-1 in the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics, he brushed aside the uphill battle they faced by noting, "[Harry Potter] had more problems dealing with Voldemort than what we have dealing with the media and the Celtics."
Such a long list prompts another thought just as stunning as all the evidence that's been gathered so far: Just imagine all the things about Kobe's Harry Potter relationship that we don't know.
Pretty passionate fan commentary no matter how you slice it. You probably won't be surprised to know, either, that Bryant identifies with one of the houses in Hogwarts. As someone who sees himself as a villain of the NBA, you can probably guess where his allegiance lies.
It's Slytherin.
Keep on being crazy, Kobe.