--- title: Kobe Bryant's Dog's Name Proof of His Harry Potter Obsession description: Kobe Bryant has never been shy about expressing his love for all things Harry Potter. canonical: https://time.com/4246417/kobe-bryant-dog-name-harry-potter-obsession/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-03T17:48:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:30:42.483Z og:title: Kobe Bryant's Dog's Name Proves His Harry Potter Obsession Is Still Going Strong og:description: It's named after one of the three unforgivable curses og:url: https://time.com/4246417/kobe-bryant-dog-name-harry-potter-obsession/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcac332b0545f911/698880172dce011c3e9e8098/kobe-bryant.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Los Angeles Lakers v Denver Nuggets og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kobe Bryant's Dog's Name Proves His Harry Potter Obsession Is Still Going Strong twitter:description: It's named after one of the three unforgivable curses twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcac332b0545f911/698880172dce011c3e9e8098/kobe-bryant.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kobe Bryant's Dog's Name Proves His _Harry Potter_ Obsession Is Still Going Strong > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=09391dc9-b457-4e62-a019-cacb38184834&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 3, 2016 5:48 PM UTC  Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers takes the court against the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center on March 2, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers takes the court against the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center on March 2, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. Doug Pensinger/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 3, 2016 5:48 PM UTC Kobe Bryant has never been shy about expressing his [love for all things _Harry Potter_](http://www.gq.com/story/kobe-bryant-harry-potter-superfan?mbid=synd%5Ftpg). 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](http://time.com/4129805/expect-big-things-out-of-kobes-bryants-retirement/) 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_](http://blogs.denverpost.com/nuggets/2016/03/02/how-fans-earned-a-pair-of-kobe-bryant-autographed-sneakers-during-his-farewell-to-denver/13970/). “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.” > [](https://twitter.com/TheCauldron/status/705250386639245312) **Read More:** [Kobe Bryant Opens Up About His Decision to Retire](http://time.com/4132275/kobe-bryant-retire-2/) Turns out, Black Mamba dog’s name is Crucio, a nod to one of the three [Unforgivable Curses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG4XLZUAot4) in the fantasy series. However, even though its name has some sinister origins, the pup looks to be pretty adorable. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4246417/kobe-bryant-dog-name-harry-potter-obsession/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4246417/kobe-bryant-dog-name-harry-potter-obsession/"},"headline":"Kobe Bryant's Dog's Name Proves His Harry Potter Obsession Is Still Going Strong","datePublished":"2016-03-03T17:48:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:42.483Z","description":"It's named after one of the three Unforgivable Curses","url":"https://time.com/4246417/kobe-bryant-dog-name-harry-potter-obsession/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Basketball","Sports topic","Athletes","Harry Potter","Kobe Bryant","NBA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcac332b0545f911/698880172dce011c3e9e8098/kobe-bryant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcac332b0545f911/698880172dce011c3e9e8098/kobe-bryant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Los Angeles Lakers v Denver Nuggets","caption":"Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers takes the court against the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center on March 2, 2016 in Denver, Colorado.","creditText":"Doug Pensinger/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4246417/kobe-bryant-dog-name-harry-potter-obsession/","name":"Kobe Bryant's Dog's Name Proves His Harry Potter Obsession Is Still Going Strong"}}]}] ```