Wichita boy discusses his book inspired by Kobe Bryant

Nine-year-old Jasiah Warren loves basketball. He started watching the game with his dad when he was 6-years-old.

He says NBA star, Kobe Bryant motivates him, which is why last summer during a camp at Storytime Village, he wrote a book about how the NBA legend drives him to succeed.

The book is called "The Boy Who Was Too Small to Play Basketball." It's about a boy called "Cliff" who struggles to score during his basketball games because he's not big enough.

"I went to Kobe Bryant and said, "I'm too small to shoot a goal." "He said, "Workout and you'll see."Jasiah read from his book.

Jasiah says learning the news of one of his idols dying was hard.

"It made me feel sad. I felt kind of sad because he probably didn't see it," Said Jasiah. " But I felt sad for him and his daughter and his family."

Jasiah wishes he could tell the basketball icon what he meant to him.

"He inspired me, and I would ask him, could he teach me how to play? Because he was like a legend," Jasiah says.