Bryant was the first guard drafted instantly out of excessive school. After the draft, the trade was put in jeopardy when Divac threatened to retire somewhat than be traded from Los Angeles. However, on June 30, Divac relented on his menace and the trade was made ultimate on July 9, 1996, when the league's off-season moratorium ended. Since Bryant was still 17 on the time, his mother and father needed to cosign his contract with the Lakers till he was able to signal his own when he turned 18 before the season started. Bryant signed a three-year rookie contract totaling $3.5 million. “Me sitting here, doing this interview—I don’t have to do that,” he says.

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, in addition to his continuing All-Star performance on the court. In the 2007 NBA Playoffs, the Lakers were once again eliminated within the first spherical by the Phoenix Suns, 4–1. The 2005–06 NBA season would mark a crossroads in Bryant's basketball profession.

It has been three years since NBA legend Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020 in Calabasas, California. Bryant was among nine individuals killed, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant, when the helicopter collided with a mountainside. Brown has never been inside copyright Arena, the building the Clippers name home, as do the Lakers.

Each feminine participant saw in him the title of his book, The Mamba Mentality. Last season he performed he started the final six games for an injured Tanner Morgan, tossing three touchdowns and 946 yards passing and leading the Gophers to a second straight win over Wisconsin to retain the Paul Bunyan Axe. This is the fourth time Bryant has been on the duvet of the sport, together with when he was featured on the quilt of NBA 2K21, which was launched simply months after his death in January 2020. Bryant was also the cover athlete for NBA 2K17 and NBA 2K10. At the age of six, the game became part of my nature. Everything I saw, heard, read, or felt was seen via the lens of rising as a basketball participant.

"Kobe Bryant proclaims plans to retire following this season". "Examining Kobe Bryant's legendary pain tolerance and road to recovery". "Kobe Bryant set to play last sport in Philadelphia". "Lakers star Kobe Bryant out for season after shoulder surgical procedure". "As Kobe faces Duncan for 78th time, comparison unavoidable". "40 stats you gained't consider about Kobe Bryant's historic NBA career".

In that collection, Bryant averaged 22.6 factors per recreation and 4.four assists. Jackson's contract as coach was not renewed, and Rudy Tomjanovich took over. O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant. The following day, Bryant declined a suggestion to signal with the Los Angeles Clippers and re-signed with the Lakers on a seven-year contract.

Bryant had sued Los Angeles County over the sharing of pictures of human stays from the helicopter crash that killed her husband, her daughter and 7 others. He went on to have a profitable basketball profession at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, the place he led the staff to the state championships 4 years in a row. After graduating in 1996, Bryant determined to enter the National Basketball Association and was chosen by the Charlotte Hornets within the 1996 NBA draft. Thirty minutes later, the helicopter was within the air, touring from John Wayne-Orange County Airport to Camarillo, California, the place the passengers would then be pushed to a youth basketball recreation in nearby Thousand Oaks. Bryant was joined on the flight by his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna; John and Keri Altobelli and their daughter, Alyssa; Sarah Chester and her daughter, Payton; and Christina Mauser, an assistant coach. On January 26, 2022, coinciding with the 2nd anniversary of his demise and the helicopter crash, a statue of Bryant and his daughter Gianna was placed at the site the place the crash occurred.

In 2012, Bryant was honored as one of the 35 Greatest McDonald's All-Americans for his high-school play in addition to his later accomplishments. Kobe Bryant's life was minimize short in a helicopter accident in Calabasas, California, on Jan. 26, 2020. The legendary basketball participant died alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and 7 different people on board, including the pilot.