Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bean Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of former NBA player Joe 'Jellybean' Bryant. Spending eight years of his childhood in Italy where his father played professionally, Bryant became fluent in Italian and developed exceptional footwork playing soccer. Entering the NBA directly from Lower Merion High School in 1996 at age seventeen, Bryant was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he formed a historic, dominant partnership with center Shaquille O'Neal under coach Phil Jackson.

Bryant and O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. After O'Neal's departure, Bryant evolved into the game's most unstoppable individual scoring machine. On 22 January 2006 against the Toronto Raptors, Bryant scored an unfathomable 81 points, shooting 28 of 46 from the field in a performance second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. Proving his leadership as the team's alpha, Bryant led the Lakers to back-to-back NBA titles in 2009 and 2010, winning Finals MVP honors in both.

An 18-time NBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist (2008 'Redeem Team' and 2012), Bryant concluded his career in April 2016 with a fairy-tale 60-point finale against the Utah Jazz, famously uttering 'Mamba Out.' In 2018, he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball. Tragically, on 26 January 2020, Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, triggering an outpouring of grief worldwide.