One of the major storylines coming out of the NBA Draft for the Los Angeles Lakers came from 2012.
When the team selected Larry Nance Jr. in the first round on Thursday, a tweet from 2012 was unearthed where the rookie referenced star shooting guard Kobe Bryant's sexual assault case in 2003, calling him a "rapist."
Nance and the rest of the Lakers draft picks were introduced at the team's practice facility on Monday and he addressed the awkward situation, admitting he was "terrified" to apologize to the five-time NBA champion.
Nance texted him and got a nice response from Bryant.
"You hear all the stories about how Kobe, or Mr. Bryant, is so intense and just always on edge," Nance said, according to ESPN. "I was nervous to send him a long message and then just get an 'Okay,' or not a response at all. I'm just so, so glad he handled that in the manner he did. I still could be up here with a stomach in my knot, or a knot in my stomach. But he did a terrific job and I can't thank him enough for forgiving me."
Nance, who was taken with the 27th overall pick out of the University of Wyoming, apologized to Bryant for what happened and the future Hall of Famer took it in stride.
"The kid figured it out himself," Bryant said. "He's a kid, man. He actually sent me a great message [Friday], which is really funny. I looked at it [the message], 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.'"
Nance deleted the tweet just minutes after being selected by the Lakers, but like most things on Twitter, it didn't take long for it to become a story.
Bryant said he was initially taken aback by the text.
"I was like, 'What the f---?' But it was really nice and apologetic about what had happened," Bryant said. "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.'"
The 2012 tweet stems from Bryant being involved in a sexual assault case in Colorado in 2003 where a woman claimed that the Lakers star raped her in his hotel room.
Bryant admitted no guilt to the crime, but he did publicly apologize and charges were dropped when the woman refused to testify. A civil suit was then eventually settled.
"Gee I sure hope Kobe can keep his hands to himself in Denver this time," Nance tweeted at the time, using the hashtag #rapist.
This time, Nance took to Twitter to apologize to Lakers fans for the controversy:
Now that the air is cleared, the Lakers will look to improve on performances the past two seasons that have been uglier than the initial tweet Nance sent out.
After setting a franchise record for futility in the 2013-14 campaign, the Lakers fell even further this past season, with a club-worst 21-61 mark.
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