Bryant and his family have been common attendees at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach. Bryant and Gianna received the Eucharist together simply hours before he died in a helicopter crash. Bryant was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of three kids and solely son of former NBA playerJoe Bryantand Pamela Cox Bryant. He was also the maternal nephew of basketball player John "Chubby" Cox.

His next two seasons were cut quick by accidents to his knee and shoulder, respectively. In 2017, the Lakers retired both his Nos. 8 and 24, making him the one participant in NBA historical past to have a quantity of numbers retired by the same franchise. In 2008 and again in 2016, ESPN ranked him the second greatest shooting guard of all-time after Jordan. Players together with Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, and Derrick Rose have known as Bryant their generation's version of Jordan.The Press-Enterprisedescribed Bryant as "maybe the best Laker within the organization's history". He is the Lakers' all-time leading scorer, and his 5 titles are tied for essentially the most in franchise historical past. In the playoffs, the Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz in five games and the Houston Rockets in seven games within the opening two rounds.

This was the second-best scoring performance of his 11-year career. The only other Laker to do so was Elgin Baylor, who additionally scored 50+ in three consecutive contests in December 1962. Bryant completed the 12 months with a total of ten 50-plus point games, matched solely by Chamberlain. Bryant also received his second straight scoring title that season. Throughout the 2006–07 season, his jersey grew to become the highest selling NBA jersey in the United States and China. A number of journalists have attributed the improved sales to Bryant's new number, as properly as his continuing All-Star performance on the court docket.

After finishing off the Denver Nuggets in the Conference Finals in six video games, the Lakers earned their second straight journey to the NBA Finals the place they defeated the Orlando Magic in 5 video games. Bryant was awarded his first NBA Finals MVP trophy upon successful his fourth championship, attaining collection averages of 32.4 points, 7.four assists, 5.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks. On January 22, 2006, Bryant scored a career-high eighty one points in a victory in opposition to the Toronto Raptors. In that same month, Bryant additionally turned the first participant since 1964 to attain 45 factors or extra in four consecutive video games, becoming a member of Chamberlain and Baylor as the only players ever to take action. Bryant finished in fourth place within the voting for the 2006 NBA Most Valuable Player Award, however acquired 22 first place votes—second only to winner Steve Nash. The Los Angeles Lakers posted a 45–37 report, an eleven-game improvement over the previous season, and the complete squad gave the impression to be clicking.

He led the NBA in scoring within the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons and was named league MVP in 2008. On January 22, 2006, he scored a career-high 81 factors; the second most points scored in a single NBA recreation, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point recreation. Bryant led the staff to consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010, being named NBA Finals MVP on both occasions. He continued to be among the premier gamers within the league through the 2012–13 season, when he suffered a torn achilles tendon at age 34.

Some of Bryant’s accolades embody 5 NBA championships, two Olympic gold medals, 18 All-Star game appearances, and two Finals MVP awards. In November 1999, 21-year-old Bryant met 17-year-old Vanessa Laine whereas she was working as a background dancer on the Tha Eastsidaz music video "G'd Up". Bryant was within the constructing engaged on his debut musical album. The two began dating and became engaged simply six months later in May 2000, whereas Laine was nonetheless a senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. To keep away from media scrutiny, she finished high school through unbiased examine. According to Vanessa's cousin Laila Laine, there was no prenuptial agreement.

During his taking half in days with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant wasn’t just profitable on the court docket but off the courtroom as nicely. Before his media ventures took off, Bryant had one of the most well-liked sneakers in the marketplace with each fans and gamers clamoring to get the most recent pair. He averaged 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and four.7 assists in 1,346 regular-season video games.

I’ll play for him and win championships, but I could have no interaction with him.” Yet on the same time, it drove me at a maniacal pace. Because both consciously or unconsciously, he put an amazing amount of stress on me to be efficient, and to be nice, and to be nice now. In 2018, Bryant partnered with Chad Faulkner, the owner of a Southern California sports activities academy, to create Mamba Sports Academy. Bryant's daughter Gianna played for the collective and he worked carefully with its young gamers to assist cultivate their abilities.