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He scored 36 points in the finale and finished with averages of The Lakers were looking to trade their starting center Vlade Divac for a player's draft rights to free up salary-cap space to make an offer to free-agent center Shaquille O'Neal.
Bill Branch, the Hornets' head scout at the time, said that the Hornets agreed to trade their draft selection at 13 to the Lakers the day before the draft. Before the trade agreement, the Hornets never considered drafting Bryant.
During the draft, the Lakers told the Hornets whom to select minutes before the pick was made. Bryant was the first guard ever drafted directly out of high school. At the time he became the youngest player ever to play in an NBA game 18 years, 72 days; a record since broken by Jermaine O'Neal and former teammate Andrew Bynum , and also became the youngest NBA starter ever 18 years, days. Initially, Bryant played limited minutes, but as the season continued, he began to see some more playing time.
By the end of the season, he averaged During the All-Star weekend, Bryant participated in the Rookie Challenge and won the Slam Dunk Contest, becoming the youngest dunk champion ever at the age of The Lakers advanced to the Western Conference semifinals in the playoffs against the Utah Jazz, when Bryant was pressed into a lead role at the end of Game 5.
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 remaining in the fourth quarter. Bryant shot four air balls at the end of the game; the Jazz won 98—93 in overtime to eliminate the Lakers 4—1.
He first missed a game-winning two-point jump shot in the fourth quarter, and then misfired 3 three-point field goals in overtime, including two tying shots in the final minute. O'Neal commented that "[Bryant] was the only guy who had the guts at the time to take shots like that. In Bryant's second season, he received more playing time and began to show more of his abilities as a talented young guard.
As a result, Bryant's point averages more than doubled, from 7. Bryant would see an increase in minutes when the Lakers "played small", which would feature Bryant playing small forward alongside the guards he would usually back up. He was joined by teammates O'Neal, Van Exel, and Jones, making it the first time since that four players on the same team were selected to play in the same All-Star Game. Bryant's The —99 season marked Bryant's emergence as a premier guard in the league.
With starting guards Van Exel and Jones traded, Bryant started every game for the lockout-shortened game season. This kept him with the Lakers until the end of the —04 season.
Even at an early stage of his career, sportswriters were comparing his skills to those of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. Bryant's fortunes would improve when Phil Jackson took over as coach of the Lakers in In November , year-old Bryant met year-old Vanessa Laine while she was working as a background dancer on the Tha Eastsidaz music video "G'd Up".
Bryant was in the building and working on his debut musical album. The two began dating and became engaged six months later in May , while Laine was still a senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. To avoid media scrutiny, she finished high school through independent study. According to Vanessa's cousin Laila Laine, there was no prenuptial agreement. Vanessa said Bryant "loved her too much for one". While playing second fiddle to O'Neal in the playoffs, Bryant had some clutch performances including a point, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 block game in game 7 of the Western Conference finals against the Portland Trail Blazers.
He also threw an alley-oop pass to O'Neal to clinch the game and the series. In the Finals, against the Indiana Pacers, Bryant injured his ankle in the second quarter of Game 2 after landing on the Pacers' Jalen Rose's foot.
Rose later admitted he placed his foot under Bryant intentionally. Bryant did not return to the game, and he also missed Game 3 due to the injury. In Game 4, Bryant scored 22 points in the second half and led the team to an OT victory as O'Neal fouled out of the game.
Bryant scored the winning shot to put the Lakers ahead — With a — Game 6 victory, the Lakers won their first championship since Statistically, the —01 season saw Bryant perform similarly to the previous year, but he averaged six more points per game It was also the year when disagreements between Bryant and O'Neal began to surface. Once again, Bryant led the team in assists, with five per game.
The Lakers, however, only won 56 games, an game dropoff from the previous year. The Lakers would respond by going 15—1 in the playoffs. They easily swept the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. In the semifinals round, the Lakers swept the Sacramento Kings. In-Game 4 against the Kings, Bryant recorded 48 points, 16 rebounds and 3 assists in a — series-clinching win. They swept the San Antonio Spurs in the conference finals to advance to the Finals, before losing their first game against the Philadelphia 76ers in overtime.
They would go on to win the next four games and bring their second championship to Los Angeles in as many seasons. During the playoffs, Bryant played heavy minutes which brought his stats up to In the playoffs, teammate O'Neal declared Bryant the best player in the league. Bryant and Laine married on April 18, , at St. The wedding was not attended by Bryant's parents, his two sisters, his longtime advisor, and agent Arn Tellem, or his Laker teammates. Bryant's parents were opposed to the marriage for a number of reasons.
Reportedly Bryant's parents had problems with him marrying so young, especially to a woman who was not African-American. This disagreement resulted in an estrangement period of over two years, which ended when the couple's first daughter was born. On December 16, , Vanessa Bryant filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, and the couple requested joint custody of their daughters. In the —02 season, Bryant played 80 games for the first time in his career.
On January 14, , Bryant recorded a then career-high 56 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists in a —81 win over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies. He continued his all-round play by averaging Bryant also had a career-high The Lakers won 58 games that year and finished second in the Pacific Division behind in-state rival Sacramento Kings.
Bryant was suspended one game after he punched Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers after the Lakers' March 1, victory over the Pacers. He claimed his first All-Star MVP trophy after a 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".
The road to the Finals would prove a lot tougher than the record run the Lakers had enjoyed the previous year. While the Lakers swept the Blazers and defeated the Spurs 4—1 in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Lakers did not have a home-court advantage against the Sacramento Kings. The series would stretch to seven games, the first time this had happened to the Lakers since the Western Conference Finals.
However, the Lakers were able to beat their division rivals and make their third consecutive NBA Finals appearance.
At age 23, Bryant became the youngest player to win three championships. Bryant's play was notable and praised for his performance in the fourth quarter of games, specifically the last two rounds of the playoffs. This cemented Bryant's reputation as a "clutch player". After years of steady improvement, Bryant became one of the premier shooting guards in the league, earning appearances in the league's All-NBA, All-Star, and All-Defensive teams.
The Lakers became championship contenders under Bryant and O'Neal, who formed a legendary center-guard combination. Jackson utilized the triangle offense that he implemented to win six championships with the Chicago Bulls; this offense would help both Bryant and O'Neal rise to the elite class of the NBA.
Three championships were won consecutively in , , and , further cementing this view. Bryant was arrested for sexual assault before the season began. This caused Bryant to miss some games due to court appearances or attend court earlier in the day and travel to play games later in the same day. Bryants' first child was born in January The birth resulted in a reconciliation between Bryant and his parents.
In the summer of , the sheriff's office of Eagle, Colorado, arrested Bryant in connection with an investigation of a sexual assault complaint filed by a year-old hotel employee. The accuser stated that Bryant raped her in his hotel room the night before Bryant was to have the procedure. Bryant admitted to an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser but denied her sexual assault allegation. Jackson's contract as coach was not renewed, and Rudy Tomjanovich took over.
The following day, Bryant declined an offer to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers and re-signed with the Lakers, on a seven-year contract. Bryant was closely scrutinized and criticized during the —05 season with his reputation badly damaged from all that had happened over the previous year.
The book detailed the events of the Lakers' tumultuous —04 season and has several criticisms of Bryant. In the book, Jackson called Bryant "un-coachable". The accusation tarnished Bryant's reputation, and the public's perception of him plummeted; his endorsement contracts with McDonald's and Nutella were terminated. Sales for Bryant's replica jersey fell significantly.
However, in September , the assault case was dropped by prosecutors after the accuser decided not to testify at the trial. Afterward, Bryant agreed to apologize to her for the incident, including his public mea culpa: Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.
The accuser filed a separate civil lawsuit against Bryant, which the two sides settled privately. The —06 season marked a crossroads in Bryant's basketball career. Despite past differences with Bryant, Jackson returned to coach the Lakers. Bryant endorsed the move, and by all appearances, the two men worked together well the second time around, leading the Lakers back into the playoffs.
Bryant's individual scoring accomplishments posted resulted in the finest statistical season of his career. On December 20, , Bryant scored 62 points in three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks. Entering the fourth quarter, Bryant outscored the entire Mavericks team 62—61, the only time a player has done this through three quarters since the introduction of the shot clock.
It was reported that Bryant would change his jersey number from 8 to 24 at the start of the —07 season. Bryant's first high school number was 24 before he switched to By the end of the —06 season, Bryant set Lakers single-season franchise records for most point games 27 and most points scored 2, How Zlatan Ibile allegedly stormed Naira Marley's house, destroyed valuable items and gave him the beating of his life Details. Marvel's 'The Eternals' teaser is a total blast Watch.
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