Kobe Bryant Convinced James Harden to Invest $500K in BodyArmor Before It Sold For $8 Billion

James Harden recently shared how Kobe Bryant's advice to invest in BodyArmor landed him a huge payday.

At around the 4:40 point of the Earn Your Leisure interview, seen above, Bryant was asked about advice he received from older players when he was coming up in the NBA and if he's provided similar advice now that he's been in the league for 15 years.

"I talk to my teammates and somebody like Terance Mann, who's invested in Recover 180," he shared. "But if they ask me, or if I see opportunity for somebody, I'll definitely say something."

He then explained that Kobe Bryant, an early investor in BodyArmor, approached him to get him involved with the sports drink brand.

"Kobe basically was like, 'We going to put a stash of $5 million and then any business opportunities—it might be a little $200,000, it might be $500,000 just depending on what investment it is—we going to put a pot together and we just going to invest our money,'" he said.

He said that BodyArmor was the "beginning" of their business plans together.

"We seen how it is, we built the whole business up and it took eight to 10 years," he continued. "Look what it's done. ... I just try to give the guys as much opportunity in game as they want, but I'm not going to force it on them, because nowadays the young dudes is kind of crazy."

Later in the interview, he said that he put "$500 grand into BodyArmor," which got him "a good amount of money back" when the brand was sold to Coca-Cola in 2021.

"Kobe, if I'm not mistaken, put $8 million into it," he said at the 28:50 point of the chat.

In 2021, Coca-Cola acquired full ownership of BodyArmor. Kobe Bryant invested millions into the company in 2014 and received over 10% in ownership. The acquisition valued BodyArmor at $8 billion, with Bryant's estate receiving an estimated $400 million in the sale, a figure larger than the estimated earnings the basketball legend made during his career in the NBA ($323 million).

When the sale was announced, Harden paid tribute to Bryant, who tragically died in a helicopter crash the previous year. "We did it bro!" he wrote alongside a photo of them together. "The best sports drinks created. Wish you were here to celebrate. We still coin hard for you. Much love."