Kobe Bryant
American basketball player (1978–2020) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kobe Bean Bryant (/ˈkoʊbiː/ KOH-bee; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020)[3] was an American professional basketball player. He played a career total of 20 years in the National Basketball Association. He played his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant played as a shooting guard. During the 2005-2006 season, he scored 81 points in a game against the Toronto Raptors.[4] He is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Bryant retired on April 13, 2016 after scoring 60 points in a Lakers win against the Utah Jazz. He won an Oscar and Emmy for his movie Dear Basketball.[5]
Bryant was born in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. He is the youngest child of three children of his family.[6] His father was a basketball player and coach Joe Bryant.
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Championships and awards
Kobe Bryant won five championship rings from 2000-2002 and again in 2009-2010. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player in the 2007-08 NBA season after the Los Angeles Lakers went to the 2008 NBA Playoffs as the first seed in the Western Conference was the winner of 18 times NBA all-star, 15-time member of the All-NBA team, 12-time member of the all-defensive team and 1-time slam dunk champion.
In 2008, Bryant won a gold medal with the United States national team at the Olympics in Beijing.[7]
Bryant earned 14 selections for All-NBA teams and 12 for All-Defensive teams. He led the league in scoring twice. He received 4 all-star game MVPs in 14 appearances. He also won 2 finals MVP awards. He was also the youngest player to reach 30,000 points, passing Shaquille O Neal and Michael Jordan and becoming third on the all-time scoring list. Bryant is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history.
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Sexual assault investigation
In the summer of 2003, the sheriff's office of Eagle, Colorado, arrested Bryant in connection with an investigation of a sexual assault complaint filed by a 19-year-old hotel employee.[8][9] In September 2004, the assault case was dropped by prosecutors after the accuser refused to testify at the trial.[10]
Helicopter crash
On January 26, 2020, Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California that was intended to go to the Camarillo Airport, at the age of 41.[11] His 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant, and seven others also died in the crash.[12]
Tributes
On February 24, a public funeral service was held at the Staple Center with Bryant's widow Vanessa and basketball legends such as Michael Jordan making speeches.[13]
In games after the crash, some teams took intention 24-second shot clock or 8-second backcourt violations to honor Bryant since both 24 and 8 were his jersey numbers.[14]
During the 2020 WNBA draft, Bryant's daughter Gianna, along with Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester were all made honorary draft picks.[15]
On February 8, 2024, a 19-foot bronze statue of Bryant was unveiled in the Star Plaza outside of Crypto.com Arena.[16]
On May 15, 2021, Bryant was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame by his widow Vanessa.[17]
Notes
References
Other websites
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