Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant is no longer thinking about 2015 first-round pick Larry Nance Jr.'s tweet in 2012 regarding his sexual assault case in the past.
In an interview with ESPN's Jemele Hill at the BET Experience held at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles Bryant said, "The kid figured it out himself. He's a kid, man. He actually sent me a great message, which is really funny. I looked at it and it was like, 'This is when you know it's about time to hang these things up, when your teammate writes you, Hi, Mr. Bryant.'"
"I was like, 'What the ----?' But it was really nice and apologetic about what had happened," Bryant added.
The 36-year-old also shared, "I said, 'Dude, listen. We've all said things and done things that we regret and wish we could take back. It's water under the bridge, man. Welcome to the team.' He writes back, 'Thank you, sir.'"
After getting selected by the Lakers as the 27<sup>th overall pick in the draft, the tweet was immediately deleted.
Nance's tweet read, "Gee I sure hope Kobe can keep his hands to himself in Denver this time.. #rapist."
Bryant was once involved in a sexual-assault case in Colorado in 2003 but charges were dropped after the alleged victim failed to testify.
A civil suit was settled as reported by ESPN and Bryant apologized although he said he was not guilty.
According to ESPN, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said he already spoke to Nance regarding the tweet during draft night Thursday with public relations director John Black.
Along with Nance, the Lakers also drafted point guard D'Angelo Russell (No. 2 overall pick) from Ohio State and Stanford forward Anthony Brown (34<sup>th overall pick).
The Lakers hope their rookies will help them rebuild after two straight seasons of missing the playoffs including last season where they had the worst regular season finish in franchise history with a 21-61 record.
