When late Barbara Walters interviewed a 19-year-old Kobe Bryant and emerging signs of his "Mamba Mentality" became clear

Barbara Walters, one of the news world’s biggest and most popular names, is dead at 93. The iconic ABC anchor’s health was on the decline over the past few years and has now passed away.

Throughout her career, though, she’s had several interactions with the NBA’s best and brightest stars. One of those she had a conversation with was a young Kobe Bryant in 1998. Back then the “Mamba Mentality” was still in its infancy stage.

Here’s what Bryant had to say about the phrase that will pave the way for a legendary basketball career:

(Starts at 2:35)

"I wanna be the best, best player that I can become and I would do anything to accomplish that. I’ll go out and play basketball from 6 AM to 12 [PM]. There were times going out that I was exhausted at times but I would push myself to be the best. ”

Kobe Bryant built his career on the kind of indefatigable mentality and unwavering desire to be better. He wasn’t very outspoken about it early on, but Barbara Walters naturally got it out of the prodigious talent.

“KB24” won five championships simply because he would do anything to get them. He struggled badly in his rookie year, averaging 7.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists, which were easily the worst of his career.

In the 1997 playoffs, he didn’t even hit the net in three 3-point attempts against the Utah Jazz. The failure didn’t faze him. It only made him more determined to be the best he could be.

Here’s how Barbara Walters found out about how Kobe Bryant took criticisms at just 19 years old:

“It only drives me to succeed even more. Not necessarily show them but when people say things like that, it motivates me even more. If I prove them wrong, that’s the icing on the cake.”

Long before the “Mamba Mentality” became a hit, Barbara Walters already had a firsthand account of what that meant.

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Barbara Walters interviews Kobe Bryant about Michael Jordan

Kobe Bryant opened up on his relationship with Michael Jordan with Barbara Walters.

Early in his career, Kobe Bryant's interviews almost always found their way to Michael Jordan, the best player in the NBA in the late '90s. Barbara Walters knew that coming straight out of high school, there was already a ton of expectation as “KB24” to be the “Air” apparent.

Bryant had this to say about those gargantuan expectations:

“That’s one of the best compliments I think I can ever receive but it had to go on one end and go out the other.”

The legendary broadcaster was so in control of the conversation that she even made the “Black Mamba” open up about his relationship with Jordan. Most basketball fans thought they had nothing outside of the basketball court.

Bryant, back then, was already appreciative of Michael Jordan’s mentorship despite their testy battles:

“He knew after the All-Star break that I was gonna go through a period of struggling. People were gonna start questioning my play. He told me to stay aggressive. … It means you don’t wanna be intimidated by what people are saying. You have to go out there and do the things that got you to that point."

What a conversation those two legends of different fields had. Kobe Bryant and now Barbara Walters, gone too soon.