A number of tributes and memorials were subsequently issued, including renaming the All-Star MVP Award in his honor. In 2018, he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the film Dear Basketball (2017).īryant died, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash at Calabasas, California in January 2020. At the 20 Summer Olympics, he won two gold medals as a member of the U.S. 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, while it is the record for 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. Citing physical decline, Bryant retired after the 2015–16 season. Season-ending knee and shoulder injuries followed in the next two seasons. He continued to be among the top 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, both times being named NBA Finals MVP. On January 22, 2006, he scored a career-high 81 points the second most points scored in a single game in league history, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. He led the NBA in scoring in the 2005––07 seasons. In 2003, Bryant was charged with sexual assault criminal charges were dropped after the accuser refused 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.Īfter the Lakers lost the 2004 NBA Finals, O'Neal was traded and Bryant became the cornerstone of the Lakers. 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. The son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, he 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. Naismith Prep Player of the Year (1996)īorn in Philadelphia and partly raised in Italy, Bryant was recognized as the top American high-school basketball player while at Lower Merion.
Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2014