The Charlotte Hornets drafted Kobe, however immediately traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers for center Vlade Divac. He had turned 18 by the point his first NBA season began. During his taking half in days with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant wasn’t just successful on the court docket but off the court as nicely.

So he would take photographs at me within the press, and I understood he was doing that so as to ingratiate himself to Shaq. And since I knew what he was doing, I felt like that was an insult to my intelligence. Another factor was that I would go to him in confidence and speak about sure issues, and he would then use these issues to govern the media in opposition to me. I’m not gonna take care of that anymore.” This was throughout our first run, throughout those first three championships.

Bill Macdonald, the Lakers' TV voice, lives in Newport Coast in South Orange County, like Bryant. On a typical drive residence from LAX, Macdonald will see Bryant's automotive blaze past him—invariably, unapologetically. The Lakers have just performed a Sunday afternoon recreation in Houston.

Neither his parents nor his sisters nor any of his teammates attended. Bryant would later acknowledge the engagement and marriage led to a two-year estrangement from his father. Juggling two rising superstars, both with egos, coach Phil Jackson made O’Neal his first precedence, forcing Bryant into something of a supporting position that did not sit properly with the young guard.

In the latest installment, NBA 2K23, the duvet athlete was none apart from Michael Jordan. Jordan has graced the covers of NBA 2K11, 2K12, and 2K16. A “three-ring media circus” visited Eagle County in an try and learn more about accusations towards basketball star Kobe Bryant, the Vail Daily reported.

Bryant thought of the shot one of the luckiest he has made. Despite the injury, Bryant elected to proceed enjoying with it, rather than take any day with no work to rest the harm. Five days after his finger damage, he made another recreation winning shot, after lacking on an opportunity in regulation, this time in opposition to the Milwaukee Bucks in an overtime sport. Bryant also grew to become the youngest player to achieve 25,000 factors during the season, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain.

It was the Lakers' first victory of the season towards one of many league's prime four teams, as they entered the game 0–5 in previous matchups and had been outscored by an average of 11 points. During the season, Bryant moved from 12th to 6th place on the NBA all-time profession scoring record, passing John Havlicek, Dominique Wilkins, Oscar Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes, and Moses Malone. Bryant completed the season averaging lower than 20 pictures a recreation, his fewest for the explanation that 2003–04 season.

Bryant enjoyed being the villain, and reveled in being booed and then silencing the group together with his play. His capability to make difficult shots has additionally drawn criticism of his shot selection. Throughout his career, Bryant was disparaged for being a egocentric, high-volume shooter; he missed extra area objective attempts in his profession than some other player in NBA history.