Kobe Bryant trivia: 82 facts about the famous basketball player

Kobe Bryant was an American basketball player. He died on January 26, 2020. At the age of 41.

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about his life and career.

1. His full name was Kobe Bean Bryant
2. He was born on August 23, 1978
3. He died on January 26, 2020)
4. He was an American professional basketball player
5. He played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA)
6. He entered the NBA directly from high school
7. He won five NBA championships
8. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive team
9. He was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2008
10. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time
11. He led the NBA in scoring during two seasons
12. He ranks fourth on the league’s all-time regular season scoring and fourth on the all-time postseason scoring list
13. Bryant was the first guard in NBA history to play at least 20 seasons
14. Bryant was the son of former NBA player Joe Bryant
15. He attended Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania
16. There he was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country
17. Upon graduation, he declared for the 1996 NBA draft
18. He was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th overall pick
19. The Hornets then traded him to the Lakers
20. As a rookie, Bryant earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest
21. He was named an All-Star by his second season
22. Despite a feud between the two players, Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002
23. In 2003, Bryant was accused of sexual assault
24. The charges were eventually dropped and a civil suit was settled out of court
25. After the Lakers lost the 2004 NBA Finals, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat and Bryant became the cornerstone of the Lakers
26. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons
27. In 2006, he scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors
28. The second most points scored in a single game in league history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in 1962
29. Bryant was awarded the regular season’s Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in 2008
30. After the Lakers lost in the 2008 NBA Finals, Bryant led the team to two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010
31. Earning the Finals MVP Award on both occasions
32. He continued to be among the top players in the league through 2013
33. Then he suffered a torn Achilles tendon at age 34
34. Although he recovered from that injury, he suffered season-ending injuries to his knee and shoulder, respectively, in the following two seasons
35. Citing his physical decline, Bryant retired after the 2015-16 season
36. At 34 years and 104 days of age, Bryant became the youngest player in league history to reach 30,000 career points
37. He became the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history on February 1, 2010
38. Then he surpassed Jerry West
39. During his third year in the league, Bryant was chosen to start the All-Star Game
40. He would continue to be selected to start that game for a record 18 consecutive appearances until his retirement
41. His four All-Star MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for the most in NBA history
42. At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, he won gold medals as a member of the U.S. national team
43. In 2018, Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his film Dear Basketball
44. Bryant died on January 26, 2020, aged 41, in a helicopter crash outside of Calabasas, California
45. Bryant was born in Philadelphia
46. He was the only son of former NBA player Joe Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant
47. He was the youngest of three children
48. He was also the maternal nephew of basketball player John “Chubby” Cox
49. His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu
50. His middle name, Bean, is derived from his father’s nickname “Jellybean”
51. Bryant was raised Roman Catholic
52. When Bryant was six, his father retired from the NBA and moved his family to Rieti in Italy to continue playing professional basketball at a lower level
53. After two years they moved first to Reggio Calabria
54. And then to Pistoia and Reggio Emilia
55. Kobe became accustomed to his new lifestyle and learned to speak fluent Italian
56. He was especially fond of Reggio Emilia, which he considered a loving place and where his best childhood memories were made
57. While there he seriously learned to play basketball
58. During summers, he would come back to the United States to play in a basketball summer league
59. Bryant started playing basketball when he was 3 years old
60. The Lakers were his favorite team when he was growing up
61. Bryant’s grandfather would mail him videos of NBA games, which Bryant would study
62. At an early age, he also learned to play soccer and his favorite team was A.C. Milan
63. When Kobe’s father Joe retired as a player in 1991, the family moved back to the United States
64. Bryant was called “one of the greatest players in the history of our game” by NBA commissioner Adam Silver
65. The New York Times wrote that he had “one of the most decorated careers in the history of the sport”
66. Reuters called him “arguably the best player of his generation”
67. While both Sporting News and TNT named him their NBA player of the decade for the 2000s
68. In 2008 and again in 2016, ESPN ranked him the second greatest shooting guard of all-time after Jordan
69. Players including Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose called Bryant their generation’s version of Jordan
70. The Press-Enterprise described Bryant as “maybe the greatest Laker in the organization’s history”
71. He is the Lakers’ all-time leading scorer, and his five titles are tied for the most in franchise history
72. Both numbers he wore during his career, 8 and 24, were retired by the Lakers on December 18, 2017
73. Bryant was the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS)
74. This is an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in thirteen US cities
75. Bryant also started the Kobe Bryant China Fund which partnered with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity backed by the Chinese government
76. The Kobe Bryant China Fund raises money within China earmarked for education and health programs
77. On November 4, 2010, Bryant appeared alongside Zach Braff at the Call of Duty: Black Ops launch event at the Santa Monica Airport
78. There they presented a $1 million check to the Call of Duty Endowment, an Activision-founded nonprofit organization that helps veterans transition to civilian careers after their military service has ended
79. On October 23, 2018, Bryant’s book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, with photographs and afterword by Andrew D. Bernstein, an introduction by Phil Jackson, and a foreword by Pau Gasol, was published by MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
80. The book looks back on his career with photos and his reflections
81. At approximately 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on January 26, 2020, Bryant and four others were were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California
82. Initial reports indicated that the Sikorsky S-76 crashed in the mountains above Calabasas in heavy fog