Kobe Bryant one of the greatest players
in NBA history died in a helicopter
crash on Sunday at the age of 41 his 13
year old daughter and several others on
board also died Bryant known by his
nickname Black Mamba is being mourned as
one of the best basketball players in
two decades with the Lakers the 18-time
all-star won five championships and
scored thirty 3643 points the fourth
most in NBA history in 1996 after
graduating from high school outside
Philadelphia he elected to skip college
and go straight to the NBA where he was
drafted 13th overall by the Charlotte
Hornets and immediately traded to the
Los Angeles Lakers where he quickly
became a star Crowl got a real pumped up
after the dog as a rookie he won the
slam dunk contest and in his second year
was chosen to be an all-star his
meteoric rise continued through the late
90s and into the early 2000s Bryant
alongside teammate Shaquille O'Neal and
coach Phil Jackson by 2002 had won three
consecutive NBA championship
sweep the next year Bryant's legacy was
tarnished he was charged with sexually
assaulting a 19 year old hotel employee
Bryant his wife Vanessa besides him said
the sexual encounter was consensual
prosecutors eventually dropped all
criminal charges when the woman said she
didn't want to testify
Bryant later settled a civil suit
connected to the case back on the court
he continued breaking records in 2006
have scored 81 points in a single game
the second-highest in NBA history
dreamed of this when I was a kid you
know there's no way possible in 2008 he
was named the league's MVP but he
couldn't take his team all the way to
victory that year that was a turning
point was when I sat there in a hotel
room afterwards I started thinking about
that cuz it's on me if I didn't feel
like my teammates were aggressive enough
that falls on me and I had to understand
what their journey was how are they
feeling as people what are they going
through the next year the Lakers were
back on top he won his fourth
championship and in 2010 his fifth and
final the championships are a byproduct
of things the drills and exercises that
I did when I was six years old in 2016
after 20 years in the NBA he retired
[Music]
[Applause]
and it was kind of you know in this very
small moment and his last moment on the
court the FBI kind of admitted sure you
know all the greatnesses and brilliant
says and accesses of what about after
leaving the court Bryant turned his
attention to new business endeavors he
launched a venture capital firm
published a series of young adult
fantasy novels and even won an Academy
Award for an animated short film called
deer basketball and ode to his love for
the game
a mind can handle the grind but my body
knows time to say goodbye when the LA
Lakers retired his jersey numbers in
2017
Bryant reminded his daughters of the
secrets of his success you guys know
that you know if you do the work you
work hard enough dreams come true you
know that we all know that but hopefully
what you get from tonight
there's the understanding that those
times where you get up early and you
work hard those times where you stay up
late and you work hard those times where
you don't feel like working you're too
tired you don't want to push yourself
but you do it anyway that is actually
the dream that's the dream it's not the
destination it's the journey
Kobi was recently spotted out at MBA
games with his 13 year old daughter
Gianna who died alongside him in the
crash she was a rising star basketball
player herself it was 20 great years is
very fortunate that to play that long
and but now I you know watch it through
my daughter my daughter plays every day
he called her Mamba Sita a nod to the
nickname he had given himself
[Applause]
[Music]