Recognized as the top American high-school basketball player while at Philadelphia suburb Lower Merion, Bryant declared for the 1996 NBA draft and was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th pick; he was then traded to the Lakers.

Charges were dropped after the accuser refused to testify, and a lawsuit was settled out of court, with Bryant issuing an apology and admitting to a sexual encounter he maintained was consensual.

Before the 1996 NBA draft, Bryant had worked out in Los Angeles, where he scrimmaged against former Lakers players Larry Drew and Michael Cooper and, according to then-Laker general manager Jerry West, "marched over these people.

Byron Scott missed the game with a sprained wrist, Robert Horry was ejected for fighting with Utah's Jeff Hornacek, and Shaquille O'Neal fouled out with 1:46 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Bryant claimed his first All-Star MVP trophy after a 31-point performance in Philadelphia when he was loudly booed by fans as they had throughout the game, stemming from his earlier comment to a 76ers heckler during the Finals that the Lakers were "going to cut your hearts out.

After finishing 50–32 in the regular season, the Lakers floundered in the playoffs and lost in the Western Conference semifinals in six games to the eventual NBA champions San Antonio Spurs.

[118] When the Lakers faced the Miami Heat on January 16, 2006, Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal made headlines by engaging in handshakes and hugs before the game, signifying a change in the feud that had festered between them.

[123] Whereas Chamberlain was fed repeatedly by teammates for inside shots in a blowout win, Bryant created his own shot—mostly from the outside—in a game which the Lakers trailed at halftime by 14 and did not pull away until the fourth quarter.

On January 28, while attempting to draw contact on a potential game-winning jump shot, he flailed his arm, striking San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginóbili in the face with his elbow.

Bryant was awarded his first NBA Finals MVP trophy upon winning his fourth championship,[183] achieving series averages of 32.4 points, 7.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks.

During the 2009–10 season, Bryant made six game-winning shots including a buzzer-beating, one-legged three-pointer over Dwyane Wade on December 4, 2009, leading to the Lakers' narrow 108–107 victory over the Miami Heat.

[214][215] During the season, Bryant moved from 12th to sixth place on the NBA all-time career scoring list, passing John Havlicek, Dominique Wilkins, Oscar Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes, and Moses Malone.

[227] Bryant received experimental platelet-rich plasma therapy called Orthokine in Germany to treat the pain on his left knee and ankle,[228][229] and Mike Brown replaced the retired Jackson as coach of the Lakers in the off-season.

[245] In a move to improve the team's defense, D'Antoni began having Bryant guard the opponent's best perimeter player; he was the primary defender on the Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving, who was held to 15 points.

With the Lakers fighting to secure the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference, coupled with injuries on the team, Bryant began playing almost all 48 minutes each game.

[279][281] In his second game back after resting, Bryant had 23 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds in a 111–103 victory over Denver, and became just the third player in league history to record multiple triple-doubles in a season at age 36 or older.

[14][394][395][396][397] Inspired by the codename for Uma Thurman's character in the Kill Bill films,[398] Bryant assigned himself the nickname of "Black Mamba", citing a desire for his basketball skills to mimic the eponymous snake's ability to "strike with 99% accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession.

2 and appeared in commercials for the video games Guitar Hero World Tour (with Tony Hawk, Michael Phelps, and Alex Rodriguez) in 2008 and Call of Duty: Black Ops (alongside Jimmy Kimmel) in 2010.

[450] In high school, Bryant was a member of a rap group called CHEIZAW, named after the Chi Sah gang in the martial arts film Kid with the Golden Arm.

[451] In 2011, Bryant was featured in Taiwanese singer Jay Chou's single "The Heaven and Earth Challenge" (天地一鬥, pronounced "Tian Di Yi Dou").

[460] For the NBA 2K21 soundtrack, Damian Lillard, under his stage name Dame D.O.L.L.A., released a tribute track also titled "Kobe," featuring Snoop Dogg and Derrick Milano.

[3] Despite winning the Oscar, he was denied membership into the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences due to his past sexual abuse case and their new set of standards of conduct within the recent MeToo movement.

[500] On October 23, 2018, Bryant's book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, with photographs and afterword by Andrew D. Bernstein, an introduction by Phil Jackson, and a foreword by Pau Gasol, was published by MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[522] On February 28, 2023, Vanessa Bryant was awarded a $28.85 million settlement from Los Angeles County to conclude legal proceedings over graphic photos of the aftermath of the helicopter crash that were shared without the permission of the family.

[524] On February 7, Bryant and his daughter were buried in a private funeral in Pacific View Memorial Park in the Corona del Mar neighborhood of Newport Beach, California.

[525] A public memorial service was held on February 24 (2/24, marking both Kobe's and Gianna's jersey numbers) at Staples Center (later Crypto.com Arena) with Jimmy Kimmel hosting.

[536][537][538] Bryant also appeared at the start of the In Memoriam segment of the 92nd Academy Awards following his Oscar in 2018 for Dear Basketball, and Spike Lee wore a suit in tribute to him at the ceremony.

[544][545][546][547][548][549][550][551][552][553] The 2020 Pro Bowl was also played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on the day of the crash, and before kickoff, NFC players who learned of Bryant's death conducted a prayer led by Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, while various on-field and PA tributes were made during the game.

[571] In his first year of eligibility, Bryant was named a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, weeks after his death,[572] before being elected a couple of months later in April 2020.

In a Game 2 victory over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, Anthony Davis made a buzzer-beating three-pointer and yelled Bryant's name, while the team was wearing the 'Black Mamba' jerseys.