• NBA: Death Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash
  • Album: The Life of an NBA Myth

Kobe Bryant has left us today but his star will never go out in the NBA universe. The former American basketball player, who played for 20 years in Los Angeles Lakers , shone with his own light until his retirement in 2016.

Born on August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia (United States). His parents, Joe and Pamela Bryant, chose Kobe's name because of the type of beef they ate at a restaurant a few days before the player was born.

His passion for basketball came from family. His father, nicknamed 'Jellybean', also spent eight seasons in the NBA on teams like Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers or San Diego Clippers.

Kobe started playing basketball with just three years with the reference of Earvin 'Magic' Johnson as a player and Los Angeles Lakers as a team. Then he moved with his family to Italy, when his father signed for the Rieti.

In 1991, after the withdrawal of Joe Bryant, they returned to the United States and Kobe began playing on the team of the Lower Merin Institute in Pennsylvania. His good performances allowed him to be elected with the number 13 in the 1996 NBA draft. The Charlotte Hornets had the rights to incorporate the player, but they transferred him to the Lakers.

In his first years in the franchise he was a substitute, although in 1998 he began to be part of the All Star team of the Western Conference, becoming, at 19, the youngest player in history to debut in that competition.

With the hiring of Phil Jackson as a coach, Bryant began playing as a starter and the team improved significantly with his contribution and that of Shaquille O'Neal, so much that they won three consecutive titles between 2000 and 2002 after taking 12 years without conquering The ring of the NBA. In 2002, the Philadelphia escort was included in the ideal quintet of the competition and won his first MVP in the All Star.

Although in 2003 an accusation of sexual abuse could overshadow his career, the Prosecutor's Office finally decided to drop charges against the athlete.

The team's bump between 2003 and 2004 led to many changes, including the departure of Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Karl Malone and coach Phil Jackson, who was replaced by Rudy Tomjanovich. Bryant became the team leader and became the second top scorer in the league , averaging 27.6 points per game. But the season was a failure because Los Angeles Lakers failed to qualify for the playoffs.

In the 2005-06 season Jackson returned to the team and Bryant broke the scoring record of a Lakers player by getting 81 points in the game they played at the Staples Center against Toronto Raptors. A figure that also made him the second player in the history of the competition to score more points in a match, behind the 100 of Wilt Chamberlain in 1962.

In 2006 he decided to change the number of his shirt, replacing 8 with 24, which he wore in his student stage. A year later he threatened to leave the team, although the situation was redirected coinciding with his best years in the whole of Los Angeles.

In 2008, with Pau Gasol already in the Lakers, he was chosen MVP of the season and the team reached the final of the championship, which he lost to the Boston Celtics.

It was the preamble of two new titles for him and his team. In 2009 he won Orlando Magic in the final series, with Bryant as MVP, and in 2010 against Boston Celtics, winning his second best player trophy in the NBA finals.

In 2010, coach Phil Jackson left the team again and Mike Brown took his place. The results did not improve and, after a bad start to the 2012-2013 season, he was replaced by Mike D'Antoni.

Injuries

On April 13, 2013, the Lakers announced that Bryant was going to be six to nine months off due to the rupture of the Achilles tendon in his left foot that occurred a day earlier in the game against Golden State Warriors. He returned to play on December 8 of that year, days after renewing for two seasons. Ten days later, a left knee injury took him away from the courts for the remainder of the season, so he lost the All-Star Game and the 2014 World Cup in Spain.

But the health problems for Bryant didn't end there. In January 2015, he suffered a right shoulder injury and ended that campaign. The recovery period was nine months.

After this chain of injuries, on November 29, 2015 Bryant announced his retirement at the end of the season , after 20 years in the Lakers. On the following February 14 he played his eighteenth and last Star Party, of which 15 as a starter, record number, and in which he had to defend his good friend Pau Gasol, already in the Bulls.

On April 13, 2016, he played his last match at the Angelino Staples Center, in which he scored 60 points in his showdown against the Jazz (101-96). However, the team signed its worst historical balance (17-65). The Los Angeles team withdrew the two numbers they played with, on 8 and 24, on December 18, 2018.

Nicknamed 'Black Mamba', at the time of his retirement he was the third leading scorer in NBA history, with 33,643 points, ahead of Michael Jordan, and his more than 48,500 minutes on the court placed him in sixth position That classification. In addition to his scoring record of 81 points, in 24 games he exceeded 50 points.

Nine times he has integrated the defensive quintet of the year and in 11 he was part of the first "five" of the NBA.

He has won two Olympic gold medals with the United States, in 2008 in Beijing and in 2012 in London.

In August 2016, he presented his own investment fund, Bryant Stibel, with a capital of 100 million dollars to invest in technology, media and data companies, a project in which he works with businessman Jeff Stibel, with whom he already He has invested in several such businesses since 2013.

The city of Los Angeles proclaimed in 2016 on August 24 the "day of Kobe Bryant" (24/8, for the two bibs he wore on the Angelian team.

He has been married since 2000 with Vanessa Laine, of Mexican descent, and they have three daughters (Natalia, Gianna -Gigi- and Bianka).

The marriage created the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation (KVBFF), dedicated to improving the lives of young people and families in need.

In 2003 he suffered a crisis when the player was accused in July 2003 of the alleged violation days before a 19-year-old girl in a hotel in Vail (Colorado), in which Bryant recognized adultery. The case ended in March 2005 with an extrajudicial economic agreement of the parties.

The couple reconciled in January 2013 after having initiated the divorce process in December 2011 for "irreconcilable differences"

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • U.S
  • Pau Gasol
  • Italy
  • London
  • sports

TenisRafa Nadal, a safe value for Santander Bank

Soccer From the climax of Lisbon to the New Jersey goring, the world derby that never stops

NBA 2019 - 2020 The emotional reunion of Chris Silva of the Miami Heat with his mother after three years without seeing her