Vanessa Bryant didn't even see it coming.

Maybe it was the stylish hat she was wearing that partially blocked her vision. Or the fact that she was preoccupied with running her fingers through her husband Kobe's freshly trimmed afro.

Whatever it was, she had no idea that a loose ball was speeding directly toward her stylish head.

Kobe wasn't exactly paying attention either. He thought taking in the Lakers-Bulls game at the SoCal Summer Pro League in Long Beach would make for a relaxing afternoon. Sitting courtside at the scorer's table, he and his wife shared a Coke. Everything was going great until Bulls wannabe John Celestand tried to steal a pass that he couldn't quite handle and knocked it out of bounds.

At Mrs. Bryant.

Kobe, of course, was looking in the other direction. But at the last split-second he reached across his body with his left hand to deflect the ball, an inch before it would have clocked his wife.

The ball knocked over a few empty Coke cups and landed in Derek Fisher's lap. Kobe smiled and shook his head the way he would after scoring 17 straight points, letting his man know he hasn't got a prayer.

This being Laker country, the fans ate it up and chanted, "Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!"

He's got a great jump shot, and he's a gentleman too. What a future.

Chris Palmer covers The NBA Life for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at christopher.palmer@espnmag.com.