Jamie Foxx Shares How He Motivated Late Kobe Bryant's Fifth Championship Ring

Jamie Foxx recalled his conversation with the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant that motivated the latter to secure his fifth championship ring.

On Wednesday's episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Foxx opened up about his friendship with Bryant and how their "cantankerous relationship" inspired the basketball star to add one more ring to his four championships.

"We would always go after each other," Foxx shared as quoted by Entertainment Tonight.

"I remember he came to see my show, when I was doing a show in Los Angeles, and my whole group was Lakers fans. Now, obviously, I was a Mavericks fan. And Kobe heard, 'Mavericks? Mavericks? I thought you was a winner.' So [from there] we started going after each other, back and forth."

Foxx went on and shared the conversation they had on which NBA players could handle Bryant on the court. The player said the Celtics couldn't handle him. Foxx then suggested LeBron James and even called the Los Angeles Lakers player his "fiercest competitor," which somehow annoyed Bryant.

Bryant didn't stay for Foxx's show and started working out. The two were texting back and forth, with the singer taunting the latter that he wasn't ready for the new NBA season. It challenged Bryant and the player then told Foxx that he would win his fifth championship that season.

"I say, 'You ain't going to make it,' and he texts me back. He says, 'Do you have some water? You're gonna need it 'cause you're gonna choke on my fifth ring,'" Foxx continued.

"That's a story that I could say that, when you look at the lay of the land, and what has transpired, how he was taken from us so fast, man, I cherish that story.”

In February, Foxx talked about Bryant shortly after his death. He said he just saw the NBA player a few days before the accident because Bryant attended the premiere of his movie "Just Mercy."

"I’m actually a member of Mamba Academy — that's next to my house, my kids go there, my kids saw Kobe, I saw Kobe just a few weeks ago," Foxx told Extra.

"It will take years for this one to make sense. It makes people step back, it makes people speak to each other. We've been really holding on to each other more. We will do that, and we will enjoy this distraction.”