Kobe Bryant

Introduction

Kobe Bryant was one of the most popular and successful basketball players of all time. He played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning 5 championships and many other awards and trophies. Throughout his career, Kobe was known around the world for having one of the most extreme work ethics ever seen in sports.

Childhood

Kobe was born in 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father Joe Bryant was also a successful basketball player, which allowed him to be around the highest level of basketball at a young age. In 1984, his father left the NBA to go play basketball in Italy. The family (Kobe, his mother, father, and two older sisters) stayed in Italy until 1991. The Bryant family then moved back to America and Kobe was enrolled at Lower Merion High School, where he eventually led the basketball team to a state championship for the first time in 53 years.

Early Career

In 1996, Kobe was drafted to the NBA without going through college. He would become one of the few athletes to successfully make that leap. He joined the Los Angeles Lakers and became the youngest player to ever play in an NBA game (the record has since been broken twice).

As a rookie, Kobe won the Slam Dunk Contest in 1997 (youngest to ever win this title) and was selected for the All-Rookie team during the All-Star weekend. During his sophomore year, he was voted as a starter in the NBA All-Star Game, becoming the youngest player to ever receive this honor.

Prime

Kobe quickly became arguably the best player in the NBA at that time, and established himself as one of the best players of all time, with his primary skill being scoring (currently 4th all-time in career points). After going through some personal and professional issues, Kobe finally led the Lakers to three NBA championships in a row (2000, 2001, 2002) alongside Shaquille O'Neal.

The pair of superstars eventually split up, leading the Lakers into some difficult years during which Bryant had a historic game scoring 81 points, the most in the modern NBA, in January 2006. Kobe eventually led the Lakers to two more championships in a row in 2009 and 2010, this time alongside Spaniard Pau Gasol.

His career then started to slow down with age, although he was an important part of the 2012 USA gold medal team at the London Summer Olympics. Bryant suffered some serious injuries in his last three seasons, including a torn achilles. This eventually led to him announcing his retirement at the end of the season on November 29, 2015. Along with this announcement, he published his poem and short film "Dear Basketball". Kobe then famously scored 60 points in his very last game in the NBA on April 23, 2016, at the age of 37, becoming the oldest player ever to score 60 points in one game.

Post-Basketball

After retirement, Kobe focused most of his time and energy on his wife Vanessa and their four daughters Natalia, Gianna, Bianka, and Capri. He also got involved in various projects after his basketball career, including some media production, upcoming sports brands like BodyArmor, and more. He was also very involved in coaching his daughter Gianna's basketball team in his Mamba Sports Academy.

On January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna tragically died in a helicopter accident on the way to one of Gianna's basketball games in California. They were tragically accompanied by 7 other passengers: John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli; Sarah and Payton Chester; Christina Mauser, and the pilot Ara Zobayan.