The Mamba Mentality: How I Play

Kobe Bryant was born in Philadelphia on August 23, 1978. His father, Joe Bryant, played for the Houston Rockets, the San Diego Clippers, the Philadelphia 76ers, and for European teams. When he was six, Bryant and his family accompanied his father to Italy, and Bryant spent much of his childhood immersed in the culture and the game of basketball. Upon returning to the United States, Bryant attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, a suburb of Philadelphia. Bryant, who had started playing the game at the age of three, excelled on the basketball court in high school, and was considering offers from his top choice college, Duke University, when he was selected in the NBA draft at 17 years old. He spent his entire career as a shooting guard on the Los Angeles Lakers, retiring in 2016. He was also a key figure on the USA Men’s Senior National Team, helping the team to win gold medals in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.

Bryant was an outstanding force on the Los Angeles Lakers from the moment he joined the team, working through injuries and finding his place among his teammates as he matured as a player and as a young man. Bryant had an interest in music and in writing; as a young man he was a member of a hip hop group, and he released some solo material while a player on the Lakers. Later in his life, he founded a media corporation named Granity Studios, through which he published several books for young adults. When Bryant was 21, he met 17-year-old Vanessa Laine through their work in the music industry, and they married in 2001. Together they had four daughters, Natalia, Gianna, Bianka, and Capri. In 2003, Bryant was arrested in connection with accusations of sexual assault made by an employee working at a hotel where he was staying. He admitted to sexual contact with the woman, but denied that the interaction was nonconsensual. The prosecutors dropped the charges against him, but Bryant eventually settled a separate suit with the woman.

On January 26, 2020, Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others who were players and family members of Gianna’s basketball team, were traveling by helicopter to a basketball game for the young ladies’ team, which Bryant coached. The helicopter they were riding in crashed in the hills of Calabasas, California, killing everyone aboard. Bryant is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time, not only for the statistical achievements he accumulated over the course of his career, but also because of the influence he had over his team and the game of basketball.