Kobe Bryant has never been shy about expressing his love for all things Harry Potter. So it’s no surprise his fascination with the Wizarding World came up again during the Los Angeles Lakers’ Wednesday night game against the Denver Nuggets.
Bryant was benched the entire second half of the game due to a sore right shoulder, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying himself. As he sat watching his team lose to the Nuggets, the five-time NBA champion struck a deal with some young fans sitting behind him. He told them that if they could guess the name of his dog, he would give them the sneakers off his feet. “They wanted to know what the name of my pet dog was so I gave them a clue,” Bryant told The Denver Post. “I said, ‘It’s in a [Harry] Potter film.’ So every time, they threw out like 15 names. The deal was if they got it, I’d give them my shoes. And they got it.”
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Turns out, Black Mamba dog’s name is Crucio, a nod to one of the three Unforgivable Curses in the fantasy series. However, even though its name has some sinister origins, the pup looks to be pretty adorable.
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Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com