Family, friends and fans of Kobe Bryant gathered in Los Angeles Lakers’ home ground Staples Center on February 24 to say goodbye to the legendary player. He died in a helicopter crash with his 13-year-old daughter almost a month ago.
Mediamax Sport recalls the most impressive moments from the illustrious career of Kobe Bryant, which will keep Black Mamba in our memory.
Before becoming a world-famous basketball player, Kobe Bryant was a regular student in Philadelphia. His talent and diligence made him stand out back then too: Kobe went to training at 5 a.m. to practice before school classes and hurried back when the classes were over.
He chose a reserve place in NBA over college in 1996.
Photo: cnn.com
Kobe joined Los Angeles Lakers and became the youngest player in the history of NBA. No one could imagine that for the next 20 years, a boy named after a Japanese town would take basketball so far.
“I want to learn how to become the best basketball player in the world. And if I'm going to learn that, I gotta learn from the best.”
Photo: The Sun
Step by step, Bryant established his place in the team alongside Shaquille O’Neal. The star players did not always have a good relationship, but issues stayed outside of the basketball court, where they played together and brought wins to Los Angeles Lakers together. This photo shows them before a game at Staples Center in 1999.
Photo: cnn.com
By 2001, Bryant had plenty of beautiful dunks to his name. This one Lakers’ number 8 did in the game against New Jersey.
Photo: Getty Images
Contrary to other countries, in the U.S. sport event organizers play the national anthem before club games as well, not only for the national team. Here Bryant is listening to the anthem before another home game.
Photo: Getty Images
After becoming champions in 2001, Los Angeles Lakers players were hosted at the White House by President George Bush, who is seen on this picture holding a jersey he received from Bryant as a gift.
Photo: AP
As a star player, Kobe was always in the spotlight. Offers for photo shoots followed one after another. This picture was taken in 2008, during a photo shoot. It depicts Kobe and his eldest daughter Natalia sharing a sweet moment at the Bryant family house in California.
Photo: Getty Images
Here, Black Mamba is celebrating the win over Orlando Magic in the NBA final in 2009. Lakers won 99:86 to take their 15th title. Bryant earned 30 points for the team in that game.
Photo: Getty Images
This emotional moment was caught on camera two years later, when Los Angeles Lakers beat Boston Celtics.
Photo: Getty Images
Bryant was successful with the U.S. national team as well, winning the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
“I kept the gold medal on for the whole 13-hour flight from Beijing. Winning in the Olympic Games has a different meaning than NBA titles.”
The American team had had a long and hard journey to the gold medal, said Bryant’s teammate Dwaine Wade. The photo shows them “tasting” their Olympic gold.
Photo: the sun
Bryant added another Olympic gold to his collections four years later alongside Kevin Durant and LeBron James
“The moment you give up, is the moment you let someone else win. If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail. My brain, it cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I have to sit there and face myself and tell myself 'you are a failure,' I think that is almost worse than dying.”
Photo: Reuters
In 2017, Kobe decided it was time for him to leave professional sport. He had already addressed a moving farewell letter to basketball before saying goodbye to the fans. Bryant was not intimidated by the end of his career as a player. He found it interesting, even.
“I see the beauty in getting up in the morning and being in pain because I know all the hard work that it took to get to this point. So, I’m not, I’m not sad about [retiring]. I’m very appreciative of what I’ve had.”
Photo: Getty Images
Kobe Bryant was a legendary player. He motivated himself and thousands of people all over the world.
Photo: Getty Images
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