During the season, Bryant signed a six-year contract extension worth $70 million. The all-time main scorer in Lakers history, Bryant was the primary guard in NBA historical past to play 20 seasons. His 18 All-Star designations are the second most all time, and he has the second most consecutive appearances as a starter.

This adopted with O'Neal profitable the MVP and Bryant being named to the All-NBA Second Team and All-NBA Defensive Team for the first time in his career (the youngest player to receive All-Defensive honors). While taking part in second fiddle to O'Neal in the playoffs, Bryant had some clutch performances, including a 25-point, 11-rebound, 7-assist, 4-block recreation in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals towards the Portland Trail Blazers. In the 2000 Finals, towards the Indiana Pacers, Bryant injured his ankle in the second quarter of Game 2 after landing on the Pacers' Jalen Rose's foot. 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. With a 116–111 victory in Game 6, the Lakers won their first championship since 1988.

Bryant additionally had a career-high forty six.9% taking pictures and once once more led his group in assists. While making the All-NBA Defensive Team again, Bryant was also named to the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career. The Lakers received fifty eight games that yr 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, 2002 victory over the Pacers. Bryant debuted within the Summer Pro League in Long Beach, California, scoring 25 factors in entrance of a standing-room-only crowd. Defenders struggled to get in front of him, and his efficiency excited West and Lakers coach Del Harris.

After ending 50–32 within the regular season, the Lakers floundered within the playoffs and lost in the Western Conference semi-finals in six video games to the eventual NBA champions San Antonio Spurs. The son of former NBA participant Joe Bryant, he was born in Philadelphia and partly raised in Italy. As a rookie, Bryant earned a popularity as a high-flyer by successful the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, and was named an All-Star by his second season. In the 1996 Western Conference Semifinals with the game on the road, Bryant shot 4 airballs to the chagrin of his teammates and Laker fans. He later recounted in his "Muse" documentary that when he obtained back to Los Angeles, he went to a nearby highschool, and spent the entire day shooting within the health club. It was a defining second that changed the trajectory of his profession with him popping out stronger the next season.

In 1999, Bryant appeared on a remix of "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child on the Maxi single version of the track. Bryant admitted to an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser but denied her sexual assault allegation. However, Bryant's attorneys requested the public sale house to return the items. Before the scheduled trial, a settlement was reached permitting the public sale home the sale of lower than 10% of the items. They married on April 18, 2001, at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Dana Point, California.

Bryant's varsity coach, Greg Downer, commented that he was "an entire player who dominates" and praised his work ethic, even as the team's top player. In 1996, Bryant took R&B singer Brandy to her Hollywood High senior promenade. Ultimately, the 17-year-old Bryant determined to go instantly into the NBA, changing into solely the sixth participant in NBA history to do so. Bryant's news was met with a lot of publicity at a time when prep-to-pro NBA players weren't very common . His basketball expertise and SAT score of 1080 would have ensured admission to any school he chose, but he did not officially visit any campuses. In 2012, Bryant was honored as one of the 35 Greatest McDonald's All-Americans for his high-school play as well as his later accomplishments.

"Go ahead and get one other MVP, if you'd like. And discover the town you wish to stay in. But we'll win the championship. Don't worry about it." With a brutal seven-game victory over the Celtics within the bank for Bryant, the 2010 offseason is dominated by LeBron James' determination to leave Cleveland for Miami. He's a child trying to seem like a grown man, besides when Jeanie Buss fills in for her vacationing father and has lunch with Bryant at the Forum Club after the press convention, something sudden occurs. "The gentle spot that no person sees in Kobe Bryant," as Vitti later describes how Bryant melts with kids, particularly his personal, is what fuels him on the worst night time of his profession.

But he by no means left his American roots behind, returning to the united states every summer to play in developmental basketball leagues. The Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant, was greater than a basketball participant. He was a logo of motivation and an image of commitment and greatness.