Today is Kobe's birthday. The Lakers officially launched a poster to send birthday wishes to the team legend.
"Happy birthday to Los Angeles Heart, Kobe 💜" the Lakers official push wrote next to the picture.
Kobe was born on August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. In the 1996 NBA draft, Kobe was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th pick in the first round and traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. He played for the Lakers throughout his NBA career. Kobe won 5 NBA championships, 1 regular season MVP, 2 FMVP, 4 NBA All-Star MVP, 2 NBA season scoring champion, 18 NBA All-Star starters, 15 NBA All-Star teams (11 times in one team, 2 times in the second team, 2 times in the third team), and 12 times in the NBA All-Star teams (9 times in one team, 3 times in the second team).
Kobe played in 1,346 games in his NBA career, scoring a total of 33,643 points, averaging 25 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game, and his three shooting percentage was 44.7/32.9/83.7%. On January 22, 2006, in the Lakers' home game against the Raptors, Kobe scored 81 points in 28 of 46, making the best score in a single game in his career!
On November 30, 2015, Kobe announced that he would retire after the end of the season. On December 19, 2017, the Lakers held a retirement ceremony for Kobe No. 8 and No. 24 double jerseys. In March 2018, Kobe won the Oscar for Best Animation Short Film for his short film "Dear Basketball".
On January 27, 2020, Kobe was killed in a helicopter accident at the age of 41. On April 5 of the same year, Kobe was selected for the Naismith Basketball Celebrity Memorial.