Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin had a pretty awesome Tuesday night. With the Caps in Los Angeles a day ahead of their game against the Kings, Ovechkin took in a basketball game at the Staples Center. After the Los Angeles Lakers’ 107-94 win over the Orlando Magic, Ovechkin went back into the lockerroom, where he met up with future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and Novak Djokovic – the number one ranked tennis player in the world. You can’t make this stuff up.
The three athletes took several photos together.
Kobe Bryant also gave Ovechkin a signed jersey and shoes. Ovi freaked out.
Looks like Ovechkin got hooked up with a Kobe jersey and a pair of shoes pic.twitter.com/gGjtL9oo27
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) March 9, 2016
On the jersey, Bryant included an inscription which says, “To Alex, one of the all time greats.”
He looks so excited.
Ovechkin is a long-time Bryant fan. The two met at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Ovechkin has also sent Bryant well-wishes on Twitter.
@kobebryant best luck to your recovery you will come back even stronger!!!!!! U the best man!!!!!
— Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) April 14, 2013
Before the Lakers game, Ovechkin visited the SportsCenter set in LA to do a few interviews.
Meanwhile, Ovechkin’s Russian comrades, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Stan Galiev, hung out on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
Kuznetsov wrote on Instagram, per an Igor Kleyner translation, “Looking for the Van Gogh exhibit #rodeodrive.” Igor believes that caption is a nod to a Russian meme, which was spurred by Leningrad’s “Exhibit.” The song is at the top of Russian charts right now.
