Kobe Bryant
Teams
Los Angeles Lakers - 1996-16
Playoffs
Appearances - 15 (1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012)
Conference Finals - 8 (1998,2000,2001,2002,2004,2008,2009,2010)
NBA Finals - 7 (2000,2001,2002,2004,2008,2009,2010)
Championships - 5 (2000,2001,2002,2009,2010)
Awards and Honors
MVP - 1 (2008)
Finals MVP - 2 (2009,2010)
All-NBA First Team - 11 (2001,2002,2003,2004,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013)
All-NBA Second Team - 2 (2000,2001,2004,2010,2011,2012,2013)
All-NBA Third Team - 2 (1999,2005)
Hall of Fame - 2020
*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)
All-Time Ranks
Total Points - #4
Points Per Game - #13
Total Steals - #17
Three-Pointers Made - #18
Total Assists - #31
Steals Per Game - #99
League Leads
Points Per Game (#1-2006,2007, #2-2003,2005,2008,2012, #3-2009,2013, #4-2001,2004,2010, #5-2011)
Total Points (#1-2003,2006,2007,2008, #2-2013, #3-2002,2009,2011,2012, #5-2010)
Total Steals (#3-2003, #5-2008)
After averaging over 30 points per game in each of his final two high school seasons, Kobe Bryant decided to skip college and enter the NBA Draft, where he was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the #13 overall pick, who immediately traded him to the Lakers for Vlade Divac.
Kobe did not play much in his first season, and scored only 7.6 points per game, but he doubled that average to 15.4 in his second season, then raised it again in his third season to 19.9 per game in his first season as a starter. The Lakers had reached the Conference Finals in his second season, losing to Utah, while losing to the Spurs in the second round in 1999.
With the hiring of Phil Jackson to coach the Lakers after that season, the Lakers fortunes turned around overnight. Shaq became completely dominant while Kobe continued to grow into a star, averaging 22.5 points that season as the Lakers won 67 games. The Lakers reached the Finals, where they faced Indiana, winning the title in 6 games, though Kobe averaged only 15.6 per game in the series.
Kobe was named to the All-NBA Second Team for the second year in a row in 2001 after he raised his scoring average to 28.5 per game, along with 5.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists, and the Lakers completely dominated in the playoffs, sweeping through the first 3 rounds before losing a single game in the Finals, finishing the postseason with a 15-1 record and another championship. Bryant averaged 25.4 points in those Finals, much better than the season before, but Shaq was still the star of the team and the Finals MVP.
His scoring dropped to 25.2 the next season, but he was named to the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career, an achievement that would become commonplace by the end of his career. The Lakers had a tougher path to the Finals that year, needing 7 games to beat the Kings in the Conference Finals, before sweeping the Nets in the Finals to win another title, the third straight for the Lakers.
The next year, Kobe finished second in the league in scoring with 30.0 per game, his first time beating Shaq for the team scoring lead, but the team lost to San Antonio in the second round of the playoffs. After adding Gary Payton and Karl Malone before the next year, they were favorites to win another championship, but it was a down year for Bryant, who scored only 24.0 per game, which dropped to 22.6 in the Finals as the Lakers lost to Detroit in 5 games.
Shaq was traded away after that season, largely due to problems with Kobe, and the Lakers missed the playoffs completely in Kobe's first season as the team's undisputed leader. When Phil Jackson agreed to return to coach the team the next year, Kobe had his best season, leading the league in scoring with 35.4 per game, including his famous 81-point game, the second-highest single game in history, but the Lakers lost to Phoenix in the second round of the playoffs.
He led the league in scoring again the next year, this time with 31.6 per game, but the Lakers lost to the Suns in the first round of the playoffs, ending his season earlier than he wanted yet again. After the season he demanded a trade, but nothing ever materialized, and he ended up returning to the team for his 12th season.
The Lakers traded for Pau Gasol before the season, and the addition of another star was huge for the Lakers. Bryant won the MVP after averaging 28.3 points per game, much lower than the previous 2 years, but the Lakers had the best record in the West, and they played that way in the playoffs, beating the Spurs in the Conference Finals to reach the Finals for the first time without Shaq. They faced the Celtics in that series, but fell to their longtime rivals in 6 games.
Kobe led the Lakers back to the Finals the next year, this time going through Denver to reach the final round, where they faced Dwight Howard and the Magic. Kobe averaged 32.4 points in the Finals, 5.6 higher than his regular season average, and finally won a championship as the star of the team, taking home his first Finals MVP in the process.
He averaged 27.0 per game in the regular season the next year, finishing in the top 5 in scoring again, and took the Lakers to their 3rd straight Finals, where they met up with the Celtics again. This time, they were able to get revenge for their loss 2 years earlier, and Kobe won his second straight Finals MVP after knocking off the Celtics in 7 games.
Bryant climbed into the all-time top 10 for scoring during the next season while averaging 25.3 per game, but the Lakers lost to Dallas in the second round of the playoffs. He came back with a 27.9 average the next year, but the result was another second round playoff loss. He was averaging 27.3 the next year when he tore his Achilles near the end of the season, and without their star, the Lakers fell in the first round.
After recovering from the Achilles injury, Kobe made his season debut in late December, playing in 6 games and averaging only 13.8 points per game before suffering a knee injury that ended his season. In his absence, the Lakers missed the playoffs for the first time in 9 years.
He came back healthy the next year, and averaged 22.3 points per game for the first few months of the season before suffering a shoulder injury that would once again end his season early, the third year in a row that he would not finish the season, and the second in a row that the Lakers would end up far from the playoffs.
He worked hard to come back for one final season, his 20th in the league, and though he wasn't his old self, he still averaged 17.6 points per game, and scored 60 points in his final game, becoming the oldest to ever reach that mark. The Lakers won only 17 games that season, the worst in team history, so his career ended with that final regular season game.
It took a few years for Kobe to become a star in the NBA, and his last few seasons were marred by injuries, but he was very good for those 14 years in the middle. He wasn't great when he won his first title, but was a big part of the next 2 championships in the sidekick role, before winning 2 titles late in his career as the big star. He won 2 scoring titles and is #4 on the all-time scoring list, and has the #13 scoring average in history, and he is definitely one of the best to ever play the game.
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