"Not unhealthy for the seventh-best player within the league", said Bryant, referring to a preseason ESPN ranking of the NBA's prime players. It was the sixth time in his career he scored forty or more factors in four straight video games, a feat exceeded solely by Chamberlain . At the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, Bryant scored 27 factors to move Jordan because the career scoring leader in the All-Star Game. He sat out the season finale against Sacramento, foregoing the chase for a attainable third NBA scoring title, having wanted 38 factors to surpass Kevin Durant. The Lakers had been knocked out of the playoffs by Durant and Oklahoma City within the second spherical of the playoffs, shedding in 5 video games in what could be Bryant's ultimate playoff look.

In 1984, after ending his NBA career, the elder Bryant took the family to Italy, the place he performed within the Italian League. Growing up in Italy alongside two athletic older sisters, Shaya and Sharia, Bryant was an avid player of both basketball and soccer. When the family returned to Philadelphia in 1991, Bryant joined the Lower Merion High School basketball staff, main it to the state championships 4 years in a row.

He noted that it has been the "helicopter of selection" for Queen Elizabeth II, amongst different high dignitaries, since 2009. Minutes later, there was a shift change at the Southern California TRACON, which provides air visitors control providers to airports within the area. And the helicopter was heading into more and more mountainous terrain, where visibility that morning was poor. What happened in return was a shift in the Drew League’s popularity, saving the league. Dino Smiley informed Yahoo Sports in 2016 that he had planned on the 2011 season being the final.

When the Lakers confronted the Miami Heat on January sixteen, 2006, Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal made headlines by partaking in handshakes and hugs earlier than the sport, signifying a change in the feud that had festered between them. A month later, on the 2006 NBA All-Star Game, the 2 were seen laughing together. In Bryant's second season, he obtained more taking half in time and started to point out more of his skills as a talented young guard.

To be sincere, I can’t even remember what happened in the recreation. It began as him beating me in H-O-R-S-E, to him beating me in a sport of one-on-one. Bryant was main the league in scoring though much of the first 42 video games. He missed a triple double in every sport with 9 rebounds twice and eight in the other. In two crucial wins in March, he scored a minimum of 40 points and had at least 10 assists in back-to-back games, becoming the primary Laker to perform the feat since Jerry West in 1970.

In 2022, to commemorate the NBA's 75th Anniversary The Athletic ranked their high seventy five players of all time, and named Bryant because the tenth biggest participant in NBA history, the second highest shooting guard on the record, behind only Jordan. Players together with Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, and Derrick Rose referred to as Bryant their era's model of Jordan. The Press-Enterprise described Bryant as "maybe the greatest Laker in the organization's history". He was the Lakers' all-time main scorer, and his five titles are tied for the most in franchise historical past. Both numbers he wore during his career, eight and 24, have been retired by the Lakers on December 18, 2017.

By the end of the 2005–06 season, Bryant set Lakers single-season franchise data for many 40-point games and most points scored . He received the league's scoring title for the first time by averaging 35.four factors per game, turning into simply the fifth player in league historical past to average at least 35 in a season. Bryant finished in fourth place within the voting for the 2006 NBA Most Valuable Player Award but acquired 22 first place votes—second solely to winner Steve Nash. Bryant performed for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996 until 2016, profitable 5 NBA Championships and the 2008 Most Valuable Player award while making the All-Star team in 18 of his 20 seasons. By his mid-career, Bryant had established himself as one of many best players in NBA history, recognized for his clutch taking pictures, capable defending, work ethic, and longevity. He was accused of sexual assault in 2003, a charge which he settled out of court—the episode cost him some of his most profitable sponsorship offers, but he retained his status as one of the wealthiest and most beloved American athletes.

When Bryant has a alternative word for Lakers sideline reporter Mike Trudell whereas he's playing against Shawne Williams, Trudell tells Bryant he'd be happy to beat him subsequent. As he has all the time liked the special challenges of superhero stories, Bryant loves the Harry Potter movies—until Seto starts needling him. Judy Seto, the bodily therapist who has meant a lot to Bryant in his profession, is over at Bryant's house within the offseason to work on the knee. Sports Illustrated, 60 Minutes, every thing beneath the All-Star 1997 sun.