Kobe Bean Bryant was an American professional basketball player.
A shooting guard, Kobe Bryant spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association.
The all-time leading scorer in Lakers history, Kobe Bryant was the first guard in NBA history to play 20 seasons.
Kobe Bryant’s 18 All-Star designations are the second most all time, and he has the most consecutive appearances as a starter.
Kobe Bryant’s four NBA All-Star Game MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for the most in NBA history.
Kobe Bryant gave himself the nickname “Black Mamba” in the mid-2000s, and the epithet became widely adopted by the general public.
At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, Kobe Bryant won two gold medals as a member of the U.S. national team.
In 2018, Kobe Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the film Dear Basketball (2017).
Kobe Bryant Last Words: What did Kobe say when he was about to die?
On Jan. 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant died, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.