Kobe became accustomed to his new lifestyle and learned to speak fluent Italian. After two years, they moved first to Reggio Calabria, then to Pistoia and Reggio Emilia.
Kobe and gigi death anniversary professional#
When Bryant was six, his father retired from the NBA and moved his family to Rieti in Italy to continue playing professional basketball. īryant started playing basketball when he was three, and the Lakers were his favorite team when he was growing up. Bryant's family was Catholic and he was brought up with this faith. His middle name, Bean, was derived from his father's nickname "Jellybean". His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu. He was also the maternal nephew of NBA player John "Chubby" Cox. Early lifeīryant 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. A number of tributes and memorials were subsequently issued, including renaming the All-Star MVP Award in his honor. īryant died, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, in 2020.
In 2018, he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the film Dear Basketball (2017). He gave himself the nickname " Black Mamba" in the mid-2000s, and the epithet became widely adopted by the general public. Bryant's four NBA All-Star Game MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for the most in NBA history. His 18 All-Star designations are the second most all time, and he has the second most consecutive appearances as a starter. The all-time leading scorer in Lakers history, Bryant was the first guard in NBA history to play 20 seasons. 8 and 24, making him the only player in NBA history to have multiple numbers retired by the same franchise. In 2017, the Lakers retired both his Nos. Citing physical decline, Bryant retired after the 2015–16 season. His next two seasons were cut short by injuries to his knee and shoulder, respectively. 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. Bryant led the team to consecutive championships in 20, being named NBA Finals MVP on both occasions. 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.
He led the NBA in scoring in the 2005––07 seasons and was named league MVP in 2008. Īfter the Lakers lost the 2004 NBA Finals, O'Neal was traded and Bryant became the cornerstone of the franchise. The accusation briefly tarnished Bryant's reputation, resulting in the loss of several of his endorsement contracts. Criminal charges were later dropped after the accuser failed 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. In 2003, Bryant was charged with sexual assault, with the alleged victim being a 19-year-old hotel employee. Despite a feud with teammate Shaquille O'Neal, the pair led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002.
As a rookie, Bryant earned a reputation as a high-flyer by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, and was named an All-Star by his second season. 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. The son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, he was born in Philadelphia and partly raised in Italy. He was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. Bryant also led the NBA in scoring twice, and ranks fourth in league all-time regular season and postseason scoring.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Bryant won five NBA championships, 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. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Kobe Bean Bryant ( / ˈ k oʊ b i/ KOH-bee Aug– January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player.
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