How many charges do you think a guy takes by the time he makes it to the NBA?

Hundreds probably. Thousands, maybe?

Of them, how many do you think a player actually remembers?

Well, Duquesne assistant basketball coach Carl Thomas certainly has one that stands out.

Because it came from Kobe Bryant. And Thomas can describe it as if it happened yesterday.

“I guessed it,” Thomas recalled Sunday evening. “He was going to go right or left, and I guessed right. I got the charge and it made feel pretty good.”

Was it a good call?

“I earned it,” Thomas laughed. “I guessed right, and I was in position.”

The call was from a game that Thomas — then a member of the 1998 Cleveland Cavaliers — played against the Los Angeles Lakers when Bryant was in his second NBA season.

Bryant hated the call. But Thomas relishes the memory.

And his memories of playing against Bryant came pouring back for tragic reasons Sunday after the news broke that Bryant died at the age of 41 in a helicopter crash in California.

The accident claimed not only his life but that of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other people in the helicopter.

“I’m watching the tributes, and they’re great,” Thomas said. “They’re well warranted. But I’m almost numb to seeing it. I don’t want to see any more. Because it is bringing it more to life that this actually happened.”

Thomas said his sons had a hard time handling the news because Bryant was their favorite player.

Back in 2014, Thomas’ oldest son, Austin, had tweeted an old photo of his dad and Danny Ferry trying to guard Bryant from that same game in April of ‘98.

It read, “Not a lot of people can say their dad played against their favorite player. I can! Pops vs. @kobebryant.”

“They are 27 and 24 (years old),” Thomas said of his sons. “But this is hitting them like they are 7 and 4.”

Another memory Thomas shared was from the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, which Bryant won as a rookie.

“His facial expressions, after every dunk, he was there to win it,” Thomas said. “At 18. You could see it in his face from the first day I laid eyes on him.”

Thomas said when his players and recruits find out he played in the NBA, they’d often ask if he played against Michael Jordan. And then they ask about Bryant.

“The young guys, they realized Bryant was Jordan-esque. And he was,” Thomas said.

Thomas was on a text thread with a number of his NBA contemporaries throughout the day, and they were all stunned by the news.

“Disbelief. No one can believe this happened,” Thomas said.

Thomas said the Duquesne team had a scheduled day off Sunday after returning from a loss on the road to UMass the day before. But he’s expecting head coach Keith Dambrot to address Bryant’s death with the team at practice Monday.

You can hear my entire conversation with Thomas here.

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