Not to be confused with American football player Coby Bryant.
Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2015
Born
(1978-08-23)August 23, 1978 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died
January 26, 2020(2020-01-26) (aged 41) Calabasas, California, U.S.
Listed height
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)[a]
Listed weight
212 lb (96 kg)
High school
Lower Merion (Ardmore, Pennsylvania)
NBA draft
1996: 1st round, 13th overall pick
Selected by the Charlotte Hornets
Playing career
1996–2016
Position
Shooting guard
Number
8, 24
1996–2016
Los Angeles Lakers
5× NBA champion (2000–2002, 2009, 2010)
2× NBA Finals MVP (2009, 2010)
NBA Most Valuable Player (2008)
18× NBA All-Star (1998, 2000–2016)
4× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011)
11× All-NBA First Team (2002–2004, 2006–2013)
2× All-NBA Second Team (2000, 2001)
2× All-NBA Third Team (1999, 2005)
9× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006–2011)
3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2001, 200 •
BIOGRAPHY
In a career that spanned two decades, Kobe Bryant rewrote NBA history while leading the Lakers to the summit of the NBA.
Drafted by Charlotte when he was only 17 years old, Bryant was quickly traded to the Lakers, who believed in his potential to become a superstar.
They were rewarded just three years later when Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal led the purple and gold to their first championship together. Kobe shined brightest in Game 4 of the Finals when Shaq fouled out of an overtime meeting with Indiana. Bryant took over, scoring 28 points and providing the game-winning basket in the final second.
Bryant went on to help the Lakers to two more championships, averaging 24.6 points against Philadelphia in 2001 and 26.8 points in a 2002 sweep over New Jersey.
Three years after the three-peat concluded, Bryant began led the league in scoring with 35.4 points per game in 2005-06. The following season, he repeated his scoring championship by putting up 31.6 points a night.
However, the following year may have been his finest, as he averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and
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Kobe Bryant
(1978-2020)
Who Was Kobe Bryant?
Kobe Bryant spent his early years in Italy and joined the NBA straight out of high school. A dominant scorer, Bryant won five NBA championships and the 2008 MVP Award with the Los Angeles Lakers. Although later seasons were marred by injuries, he surpassed Michael Jordan for third place on the NBA all-time scoring list in December 2014 and retired in 2016 after scoring 60 points in his final game. In 2018, Bryant earned an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball. On January 26, 2020, he was in a helicopter crash that killed Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gigi and seven others.
Early Life
Kobe Bean Bryant was born on August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Named after a city in Japan, Bryant is the son of former NBA player Joe "Jellybean" Bryant.
In 1984, after ending his NBA career, the elder Bryant took the family to Italy, where he played in the Italian League. Growing up in Italy alongside two athletic older sisters, Shaya and Sharia, Bryant was an avid player of both basketball