If the prelude to Kobe Bryant's 37th birthday is any indication of how his year will go, he and the Lakers may indeed "shock da world."
The Black Mamba turned 37 on Sunday, but his celebration kicked off early on Friday night with an appearance on stage with Taylor Swift at Staples Center.
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Bryant had a surprise presentation for Swift, whose five-day stop at Staples gave her 16 sold-out performances - the most ever by an entertainer at the venue. Bryant told Swift and her audience about 16 being a special number at Staples - matching the total number of championships by the Staples tennant Lakers, Yahoo Sports reported.
Bryant announced that Swift received her own banner that would hang forever at Staples, and a banner indeed unfurled with Swift's accomplishment. Before he made the announcement, Bryant revealed selfish motives for wanting to be on stage with the pop superstar.
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"Me being here right now makes me the coolest dad ever to my kids. I'm just saying," Bryant said to Swift.
As if that high weren't enough, Bryant on Saturday announced being cleared to start shooting basketballs in the gym after rehabbing his right shoulder from surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in January, lakersnation.com reported. That's good news for the Laker veteran, who told rookie D'Angelo Russell, "... let's shock da world this season" on Twitter, as Yahoo reported earlier this month.
Bryant included a photo of himself in sunglasses on the court with the caption, "First day back on the court shooting! Bout damn time!!" on his Instagram account.
The Lakers estimated his time table for recovery from the surgery at nine months, which will be the exact date of the team's 2015-16 season opener against the Timberwolves on Oct. 28.
Whether Bryant is 100 percent or even able to play that night still is undecided, but his weekend in front of a raucous crowd and back on the court helped turn back the hands of time - however momentarily that may be.
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