Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He was initially drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996 before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant spent 20 years with the Lakers, winning five NBA championships and becoming the team’s all-time leading scorer. Bryant was an 18-time NBA All-Star and was honored with the MVP Award in 2008. He went by the nickname “Black Mamba” and earned gold medals with the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic teams. In December 2014, he surpassed Michael Jordan on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

Upon his 2016 retirement, the Lakers retired both of Bryant’s numbers: 8 and 24. The athlete won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2018 for Dear Basketball.

Kobe married Vanessa Bryant in 2001, with whom he welcomed daughters Natalia, Gianna, Bianka and Capri in 2003, 2006, 2016 and 2019, respectively. The couple filed for divorce in 2011 but reconciled two years later.

On January 26, 2020, Kobe, Gianna and seven other passengers died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.