Kobe vs Kobe – who was the original? There’s a strange reason behind the basketball star’s unusual name who tragically died three years ago today in horrific helicopter crash

There’s a strange reason behind Kobe’s name and it all starts in a Japanese city (Image: Getty Images)

Basketball legend Kobe Bryant once sued an entire Japanese city after they had beef over naming rights.

It’s been three years to the day since the fatal helicopter crash which killed Kobe Bryant, 41, and his daughter Gianna, 13, on the way to her youth basketball game.

The ex-Lakers star was already forging a path to being one of the best basketball players of all time before his untimely death.

But crushing basketball teams wasn’t enough for Bryant and he once set his sights on a bigger opponent.

There’s a strange reason why he chose to target the city of Kobe in central Japan.

His father, whose nickname was ‘Jellybean’, once saw a pricey ‘Kobe’ steak on a restaurant menu, and naturally thought it was the perfect name for his unborn son.

Kobe beef is a Japanese delicacy – and you pay the price for it (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)Bryant said that his “parents must have been smoking some really crazy s**t” when they were naming him, in an interview on Good Mythical Morning.

But in 2010, he sued the Japanese city of Kobe over naming rights of the beef.

Bryant’s attorney, Jeff Rundvlees, told LA Weekly: “While we are aware the city of Kobe has been around longer than my client, Mr. Bryant has clearly become more famous and influential.

“I mean, just type ‘Kobe’ into Google and tell me what comes up first.”

The global sports icon reckoned he had become bigger globally than his beefy counterpart.

The Laker’s star already won it all on the court, so he took on a city (Image: PA)Rundvlees added: “Kobe gets paid a lot of money by a lot of major companies to have his name associated with their products, and now this Japanese beef is reaping the benefits of all his hard work.

“I mean, if Gatorade had a flavour named Kobe and wasn’t paying him for it, we’d be suing them too.”

In Bryant’s pursuit to change the name of the beef, he also took the opportunity to take a dig at his ex-teammate, Shaquille O’Neal.

Team mate Shaq annoyed Kobe as he struggled to shed the pounds (Image: Getty Images)He said: “I don’t know, man. Maybe they should call it Shaq beef, since it’s really fatty.

It was reported that Bryant had problems with Big Shaq’s struggle to maintain his weight after often coming out of training camp out of shape.