Kobe Bryant: Basketball career history

LOS ANGELES, USA – The basketball world lost an admired ambassador of the game following the death of NBA icon Kobe Bryant due to a helicopter crash. 

Bryant, 41, and his daughter Gianna, 13, were among the 9 people killed as their helicopter crashed in foggy conditions in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas.

Here are some facts about the late NBA great:

Name: Kobe Bean Bryant

Former Team: Los Angeles Lakers (1996-2016)

Position: Guard

Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Born: August 23, 1978

Died January 26, 2020

Height: 6-foot-6

Weight: 96 kg

Personal life

• Bryant was the son of Joe “Jelly Bean” Bryant, who played 8 seasons in the NBA
• Bryant spent 8 years of his childhood with his family in Italy
• Bryant married Vanessa Laine on April 18, 2001.
• His daughter Natalia was born in January, 2003; daughter Gianna was born May, 2006; daughter Bianka was born December, 2016; and daughter Capri was born June, 2019

Career highlights

• Bryant won 5 NBA championships – 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010
• Named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in leading Lakers to titles in 2009 and 2010
• Earned Olympic gold medals with USA in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics
• Named NBA regular-season MVP in 2007-08 season and a record-tying four-time NBA All-Star Game MVP – 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011
• On January 22, 2006, he scored a career-high 81 points in Lakers’ 122-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors, second-most points in a game in NBA history
• In 2018, his movie “Dear Basketball” won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
• Selected with 13th overall choice by Charlotte Hornets in 1996 NBA draft, becoming the 27th player to join NBA straight from high school.
• Acquired by Lakers shortly after draft
• Named an NBA All-Star 18 times – 1998 and 2000-2016
• Two-time NBA scoring champion – 2006 and 2007
• 1997 NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner 
• Had both his jersey numbers, 8 and 24, retired by the Lakers, an unprecedented move
• Scored 33,643 points, grabbed 7,047 rebounds, and passed off 6,306 assists over 1,346 career NBA games
• Scored a season-high 60 points in his last NBA game on April 13, 2016 in a 101-96 Lakers’ victory over the Utah Jazz, becoming the oldest player in NBA history to score 60 points at 37 years and 234 days

Injuries that affected Bryant during his career

• Broken metacarpal bone in right hand, 1999-00 season
• Right index finger laceration, sprained right shoulder, 2003-04
• Severely sprained right ankle, 2004-05
• Index finger avulsion fracture, right knee swelling, sprained left ankle, 2009-10
• Torn left Achilles tendon requiring surgery, 2012-13
• Broken bone in left knee, 2013-14
• Torn right shoulder rotator cuff, 2015

– Rappler.com