Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bean Bryant (August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player.

A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Bryant was born on August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, the youngest of three children and the only son of Pamela Cox Bryant and former NBA player Joe Bryant.

He was also the maternal nephew of NBA player John "Chubby" Cox.

His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu.

His middle name, Bean, was derived from his father's nickname "Jellybean".

Bryant's family was Catholic and he was brought up with this faith.

Bryant started playing basketball when he was three, and the Lakers were his favorite team when he was growing up.

When he was six, his father retired from the NBA and moved his family to Rieti in Italy to continue playing professional basketball.

After two years, they moved first to Reggio Calabria, then to Pistoia and Reggio Emilia.

Kobe became accustomed to his new lifestyle and learned to speak fluent Italian.

He was especially fond of Reggio Emilia, which he considered a loving place and where some of his best childhood memories were made.

He began to play basketball seriously while living in Reggio Emilia.

Recognized as the top American high-school basketball player while at Philadelphia suburb Lower Merion, Bryant declared for the 1996 NBA draft and was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th overall pick; he was then traded to the Lakers.

As a rookie, he earned a reputation as a high-flyer by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest and was named an All-Star by his second season.

Despite a feud with teammate Shaquille O'Neal, the pair led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002.

He gave himself the nickname Black Mamba in the mid-2000s, and the epithet became widely adopted by the general public.

In 2003, Bryant was charged with sexual assault, the alleged victim being a 19-year-old hotel employee.

Criminal charges were dropped after the accuser refused to testify, and a lawsuit was settled out of court, with Bryant issuing a public apology and admitting to a sexual encounter he maintained was consensual.

The accusation briefly tarnished his reputation, resulting in the loss of several of his endorsement contracts.

After the Lakers lost the 2004 NBA Finals, O'Neal was traded and Bryant became the cornerstone of the franchise.

He led the NBA in scoring in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons and was named league MVP in 2008.

On January 22, 2006, he scored a career-high 81 points, the second most points scored in a single NBA game behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, Bryant won five NBA championships and was an 18-time All-Star, a 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, a 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and a two-time NBA Finals MVP.

He also led the NBA in scoring twice and ranks fourth in league all-time regular season and postseason scoring.

He won gold medals on the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic teams.

Bryant led the team to consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010, and was named NBA Finals MVP on both occasions.

He continued to be among the premier players in the league through the 2012–13 season when he suffered a torn achilles tendon at age 34.

His next two seasons were cut short by injuries to his knee and shoulder, respectively.

Citing physical decline, Bryant retired after the 2015–16 season.

In 2017, the Lakers retired both his Nos.

8 and 24, making him the only player in NBA history to have multiple numbers retired by the same franchise.

The all-time leading scorer in Lakers history, Bryant was the first guard in NBA history to play 20 seasons.

His 18 All-Star designations are the third most all time, and he has the second most consecutive appearances as a starter.

His four NBA All-Star Game MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for the most in NBA history.

In 2018, he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the film Dear Basketball (2017).

He was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.

The son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, he was born in Philadelphia and partly raised in Italy.

In 2020, Bryant, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others, died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

A number of tributes and memorials were issued, and the All-Star MVP Award was renamed in Bryant's honor.