Kobe Bryant

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Kobe Bean Bryant August 23 1978 January 26 2020 was an American professional basketball player He played his entire 20year career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association NBA He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships Bryant is an 18time AllStar 15time member of the AllNBA Team 12time member of the AllDefensive team and was the NBAs Most Valuable Player MVP in 2008 Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time he led the NBA in scoring during two seasons ranks fourth on the leagues alltime regular season scoring and fourth on the alltime postseason scoring list Bryant is the first guard in NBA history to play at least 20 seasons At 34 years and 104 days of age Bryant became the youngest player in league history to reach 30000 career points He became the alltime leading scorer in Lakers franchise history on February 1 2010 when he surpassed Jerry West During his third year in the league Bryant was chosen to start the AllStar Game and he would continue to be selected to start that game for a record 18 consecutive appearances until his retirement His four AllStar MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for the most in NBA history At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics he won gold medals as a member of the US national team In 2018 Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his film Dear Basketball He died on January 26 2020 in a helicopter crash outside of Calabasas California at the age of 41