Will Kobe Bryant be able to lead the Lakers without Shaq? How did he get a name like Kobe anyway? Here are all the facts you need to know about the guy who wears number 8for the la Lakers
Kobe Bryant was born August 23, 1978 with basketball in his blood. Kobe Bryants dad was former NBA Star, Joe “jellybean” Bryant who played for the 76 years, clippers and rockets. When Kobe was six years old, Joe Bryant started playing basketball in Europe, so the Bryant family moved to Italy. The family stayed there for seven years. While living in Italy, Kobe Bryant learned to speak fluent Italian and started playing basketball.
The Bryant family moved back to the United States when Kobe was 13 and he started playing high school basketball in Philadelphia. Kobe was now 6’6” and a star on the court .Bryant could even school his dad in one-on-one games .in Kobe Bryant’s senior year f high school, he led his school to the Pennsylvania state championship and was named the Naismith player of the year. Kobe Bryant figured he was already good enough to play in the NBA, so he skipped college and was drafted right after right school by the charlotte hornets in the first round of the 1996 NBA draft in a trade the hornets are still crying about, they sent Kobe Bryant to the LA Lakers for center, Vlade Divac. Despite not going to College, Kobe Bryant was a quick learner on the courts of the NBA. He played in the NBA all-star game for the first time in 1997 and by 2000, Kobe Bryant had developed into one of basketball’s best player, Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal teamed up to lead the LA Lakers to three straight NAB championship titles from 2000 to 2002.
In 2001, Kobe married Vanessa Laine. The couple met in 1999 .when Bryant visited a video shoot where Laine was working as a background model; while still in high school .they have a daughter, Natalia Diamante, who was born in January 2003.
In 2003 Kobe Bryant was arrested and charged with assault after an encounter with a woman at a Colorado ski resort in august, 2004, the charges and the court case against Kobe Bryant were dropped, but Kobe has still had to live with a damaged reputation and a might Pod’s wife (Kobe admitted he had with his accuser but said it was consensual).
In 2004, Kobe Bryant Will be trying to prove that he can lead the LA Lakers without Shaquille O’Neal .after Kobe told the Lakers he wouldn’t be wearing the purple and gold if Shaq was in town, O’Neal was traded to the Miami heat .will the lacers take a fall without Shaq or will Kobe prove he’s good enough to lead LA on his own? Stay tuned .the next time you see Kobe and Shaq together on the basketball court will be on Christmas day when the heat and Lakers play each other in LA.
