Kobe Bryant is apparently tired of the “Black Mamba” moniker and is looking for something a bit different.
Bryant, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 99-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday with 34 points, went on the Twitter account he recently created, saying a friend of his gave him a new nickname: “Vino.”
“Vino” is Spanish and Italian for wine. “Omg . My man just gave me a new nickname and I love it! Ha #vino,” he tweeted a few days ago. Bryant has used the hashtag “vino” in may of his posts since.
He told USA Today that now, “the vino is out of the barrel,” referring to the new nickname as well as his upbringing in Italy.
There has also been speculation that like wine, he’s getting better with age. At age 34, Bryant this season is averaging 27.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game, playing around 37 minutes.
However, several Twitter users thought he was drunk when he sent out the initial “vino” tweet. The perennial All-Star tends to tweet a lot between the hours of 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. “@Kobebryant You’re drunk, go to bed,” reads one user’s tweet about his new nickname.
