Along with LeBron James, he was one of many first two gamers to publicly named to the 2006–2008 U.S. preliminary roster in 2006 by Jerry Colangelo. However, he was once once more sidelined after knee surgery and didn't take part within the 2006 FIBA World Championship. The 1998–99 season marked Bryant's emergence as a premier guard within the league. With starting guards Van Exel and Jones traded, Bryant started each game for the lockout-shortened 50-game season. During the season, Bryant signed a 6-year contract extension price $70 million. This stored him with the Lakers until the tip of the 2003–04 season.

Several months later Bryant was accused of raping a younger lady in Colorado. He maintained his innocence, and all charges had been finally dropped when the lady refused to testify after a monthslong campaign of harassment by followers of Bryant and a few members of the media. (Bryant later apologized, admitting that he realized his accuser did not imagine their sexual encounter was consensual, and a civil go nicely with was settled in 2005.) The incident greatly tarnished his picture.

He was additionally the first guard in NBA history to play no less than 20 seasons. His 18 All-Star designations are the second most all time, while it is the report for many consecutive appearances as a starter. Bryant's 4 All-Star Game MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for essentially the most in NBA historical past. He gave himself the nickname "Black Mamba" within the mid-2000s, and the epithet turned extensively adopted by most people. At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, he gained two gold medals as a member of the us nationwide staff. In 2018, he received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his 2017 movie Dear Basketball.

The helicopter was on its way from Orange County to Thousands Oaks, California where Bryant was scheduled to coach a tournament sport at Mamba Sports Academy. An all-star lineup of Laker icons additionally paid tribute to Bryant, together with O’Neal, Phil Jackson, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom and Magic Johnson. "We are right here to rejoice greatness for 20 years," Johnson mentioned. "Excellence for 20 years. Kobe Bryant has by no means cheated the sport, never cheated us as the followers. He has played by way of harm, he has performed harm. And we have 5 championship banners to point out for it." I really started thinking seriously about investments toward the tip of my basketball profession.

He played three seasons on the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, during which he won three straight world championships. Shortly afterward, he played for the Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. The retired NBA superstar was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on January 26, 2020. The accident shocked basketball fans and athletes from across the nation and around the world. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters offers business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to shoppers.

Born in Philadelphia, Kobe Bryant is the youngest of three offspring of former basketball player and coach, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant. By the age of three, he was already at residence on the basketball court. He would stay with the Lakers for the relaxation of his profession, serving to them to win five NBA titles and notching a document 30,000 factors within the process. Whether one is a fan or not, individuals will remember the place they had been after they heard the news of Kobe Bryant’s demise, not simply due to the accident’s tragic nature, however because of his legendary impact he made via the sport of basketball. Among his nice accomplishments, Kobe actively promoted women’s sports activities and started After School All-Starts, an organization that served 14,000 low-income students within the Los Angeles area.

Before the 2018 soccer season, Kobe popped by the Alabama campus for a visit. This was August, only months faraway from The Benching—when Nick Saban swapped Jalen Hurts for Tua Tagovailoa at halftime of the nationwide championship game. Kobe’s message was supposed to resonate with each, with all.

On November 24, 2015, the Lakers fell to 2–12 after losing 111–77 to the Warriors. Bryant scored simply four factors in 25 minutes on 1-for-14 capturing, matching the worst-shooting sport of his career in which he tried a minimum of five pictures. On December 1, 2015, Bryant played his final game in opposition to his hometown group, the Philadelphia 76ers, the place the Lakers lost 103–91. In the 2001–02 season, Bryant performed eighty games for the primary time in his profession. On January 14, 2002, Bryant recorded a then career-high 56 factors to go collectively with 5 rebounds and four assists in a 120–81 win over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies. He continued his all-round play by averaging 25.2 factors, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game.