Kobe Bryant
1978 – 2020 · United States
Known for: Mamba Mentality, five NBA titles with the Lakers
“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.”
Biography
Twenty seasons, one jersey. Kobe Bean Bryant came to the Lakers as a 17-year-old and left as a mythology: five championships, an 81-point night, two Olympic golds, and a work ethic so ferocious it earned its own name, the Mamba Mentality. He learned Beethoven by ear and trash-talked in Italian; the game, for him, was craft before it was glory.
Retirement lasted barely a warm-up: an Oscar for his animated short Dear Basketball, a bestselling book, and mornings coaching his daughter Gianna's team. They died together in the helicopter crash that stopped the sporting world. In Los Angeles, 8 and 24 hang side by side, one number for the kid, one for the master.