Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978) is an American professional
basketball player who plays
shooting guard for the
Los Angeles Lakers of the
National Basketball Association (NBA). Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at
Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country. He declared his eligibility for the
NBA Draft upon graduation, and was selected with the 13th overall pick in the
1996 NBA Draft by the
Charlotte Hornets,
then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. As a rookie, Bryant earned
himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite by winning the
1997
Slam Dunk Contest.
Bryant and
Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive
NBA championships from
2000 to
2002.
A heated feud between the duo and a loss in the
2004 NBA Finals was followed by O'Neal's trade from the Lakers after the
2003–04
season. Following O'Neal's departure Bryant became the cornerstone of
the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the
2005–06 and
2006–07 seasons, setting numerous scoring records in the process. In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the
Toronto Raptors, the second
most points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to
Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. He was awarded the regular season's
Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in 2008. After losing in the
2008 NBA Finals, Bryant led the Lakers to two consecutive championships in
2009 and
2010, earning the
NBA Finals MVP Award on both occasions.
As of June 2012, Bryant ranks third and fifth on the league's
all-time post-season scoring and
all-time regular season scoring lists,
respectively. He is also the all-time leading scorer in Lakers
franchise history. Since his second year in the league, Bryant has been
selected to start every
NBA All-Star Game that has been held in the last fourteen years. He has won the
All-Star MVP Award four times (
2002,
2007,
2009, and
2011), tying him for the most All Star MVP Awards in NBA history. He is a 14-time member of the
All-NBA team and an 12-time member of the
All-Defensive team; he is also the youngest player ever to receive defensive honors. At the
2008 and
2012 Summer Olympics, he won
gold medals as a member of the
USA national team. In 2009,
Sporting News and
TNT named Bryant the top NBA player of the 2000s (decade).
In 2003, Bryant was
accused of sexual assault after having sex with a hotel employee in
Colorado.
In September 2004, prosecutors dropped the case after his accuser
refused to testify. A civil suit was later filed and settled out of
court.
-Wikipedia