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Kobe Bryant was born on August 23, 1978
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Bryant was named after a type of beef that his parents saw on a restaurant menu.
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He was the son of former NBA player Joe "Jellybean" Bryant.
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Kobe Bryant started playing basketball at the age of three
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Kobe started playing for the lakers
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Bryant was drafted into the NBA directly out of Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania in 1996.
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He was the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft.
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Kobe was the first guard to be drafted by the NBA out of high school.
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Kobe married Vanessa Laine
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Bryant scored 81 points in a single game against the Toronto Raptors on January 22, 2006, which is the second-highest single-game scoring total in NBA history.
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Bryant was the NBA's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2008.
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He was a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the medals with the United States men's basketball team in 2008 and 2012
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He retired from basketball after the 2015-2016 season, finishing his career with 33,643 points, which is the fourth-highest total in NBA history.
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Bryant was a five-time NBA champion, winning titles in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2010.
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Kobe Bryant played his entire 20-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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He was an 18-time NBA All-Star, which tied him for the most selections in NBA history.
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Bryant was an Academy Award winner, earning the award for Best Animated Short Film for his production "Dear Basketball" in 2018.
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Gianna Bryant, Kobe's second-oldest daughter, was a promising basketball player who also died in the helicopter crash that killed Kobe in 2020.
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He tragically died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on January 26, 2020, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others.