Record-breaker led the way as basketball soared in popularity around the world
Kobe Bryant, who has died in a helicopter accident in California aged 41, was among the greatest players to have graced a basketball court, and was a household name to millions of fans, from Malibu to Manila.
Basketball is, by most measures, after football, the second or third most-followed sport in the world. It is not only hugely popular in the United States but also in China, as well as in much of Asia and southern Europe. The game has enjoyed enormous global growth in the past two decades – those in which Bryant was arguably its dominant force and its most recognisable star.
Even to the uninitiated, the bare statistics of his career convey the extent of his success, which was remarkable not least for its longevity.
Bryant spent all his 20 years as a player with the same team, the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming as much a symbol of the city as of the club. With them, he won five NBA championships, and for a record 18 consecutive seasons was voted on to the AllStar team. At 18 he was the youngest player to both appear and start in an NBA game; at 37 he was the oldest to score 60 points in a match.
He was also the youngest to reach the 30,000-point mark in his career, and until the eve of his death, when his tally of 33,643 was surpassed by LeBron James, who inherited his mantle as basketball’s leading talent, Bryant ranked third in the all-time list of points scored.
What was remarkable about Bryant was that this was achieved without the outlandish natural gifts of the likes of Michael Jordan or of James.
At 6ft 5in he was tall, but not freakishly so, and therefore the skill that shone from him – unusually he was adept both in defence and attack – was the product of practice and of an unrelenting desire to win.
The combination of ability and charisma brought him record earnings. No sooner had he signed his first contract – in fact, he was under-age and his parents signed for him – than Adidas, the sportswear firm, contracted him for US$48 million over six years. His total earnings from endorsements were latterly estimated at $680m.
Kobe Bean Bryant was born in Philadelphia. His parents chose his forename after seeing the famed Japanese beef on a restaurant menu, while his middle name honoured his father’s own nickname of ‘‘Jellybean’’.
Joe Bryant was himself a basketball player, and when Kobe was 6 the family moved to Italy so his father could continue his professional career. Kobe grew up in several cities, notably Reggio Emilia, which he came to regard as his childhood home. He spoke fluent Italian, supported AC Milan at football and would give all his children Italian names.
After returning to Pennsylvania for high school, it became evident that Bryant was the outstanding talent of his generation. Highly unusually for the time, he decided to turn pro on graduating, rather than hone his talent at university, and in 1996 he was traded to the Lakers in a deal with the Charlotte Hornets, who had drafted him. Kobe was still 17.
He came to real prominence around the turn of the millennium. Bryant’s position was shooting guard, a pivotal one requiring him both to intercept attacks and to score points. Between 2000 and 2002 the Lakers won three consecutive NBA titles, establishing Bryant as the sport’s new luminary.
In 2003 his name was severely tarnished after he was arrested and accused of sexual assault at a hotel in Colorado, where he had gone for knee surgery. The charges were later dropped.
A civil suit was settled and Bryant later acknowledged that the woman involved might legitimately have viewed his conduct in a different way from him.
He began the imperial phase of his career in 2004, after the Lakers had unexpectedly lost the NBA finals to the Detroit Pistons. Previous coach Phil Jackson, who had once called Bryant ‘‘uncoachable’’, returned and mended fences with Bryant, who emerged for the first time as more of a team leader than solo star.
Between 2005 and 2007 he was the league’s top scorer, and in 2006 he notched 81 points in a single game, against the Toronto Raptors. Just as impressively, that same season he became the first man in more than 50 years to score 45 points in four games on the trot.
With the US team, Bryant won gold at the
2008 and 2012 Olympics, while the Lakers took two more titles in 2009 and 2010. Bryant was renowned for his ability to defy pain, once playing an entire 82-game season with a torn finger and another time much of a match just with his left hand when his right was injured.
From 2013 onwards, however, he began to suffer a series of injuries, and in 2016 he retired. He was genuinely surprised at the warmth of the reception given him by opposing fans in his last season, as grudging admiration turned to genuine adoration. The Lakers retired both the jerseys he had worn in his career, 8 and 24.
Bryant had set up a number of businesses, including a media company, and had published several stories for children. He had also begun to coach his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who was a promising player and died with him in the accident.
He and his wife Vanessa were married in
2001. She filed for divorce in 2011 but they were reconciled in 2013. She and their three other daughters (the youngest born last year) survive him. – Telegraph Group