US basketball legend, Kobe Bryant, died on Sunday in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
The NBA star, 41, was travelling alongside three other persons including Gianna, his 13-year-old daughter, when his private helicopter crashed.
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His death was a huge shock to family, friends, fans and former colleagues. Already, tributes have been pouring for the NBA star who will be remembered as one of the greatest basketball players of all times.
Below are some facts you may not know about Bryant:
1.Not many people know that his full name is actually Kobe Bean Bryant.
2.Bryant surpassed Michael Jordan’s all-time scoring of 32,292 points in December 2014. This meant that at the time, he was the third-highest point leader in NBA history with 33,643 points on the last day he played.
3.Outside of his basketball career, he also managed to win an Oscar award for the Best animated short film in 2018. The film, ‘Dear Basketball’, saw him win the award alongside Glen Keane.
4.Bruce Lee is his biggest motivator when it comes down to basketball.
5.He was in the middle of writing books and movies that he believed would change the world before he died.
6.He was a devout catholic who was very proud of his fate.
7.In 2011, his wife Vanessa, filed for divorce from him after a messy sex scandal citing irreconcilable differences. But Bryant did not to give up on his marriage, and two years later, his wife withdrew her divorce petition.
8.The only club he ever played for was the Los Angeles Lakers in a career spanning 20 years. He retired in 2016 after a 20-year stint with the club in which he won five NBA championships, a league MVP award, two scoring championships, and two Olympic Gold Medals among others.
9.He was 18 when he joined the NBA in 1996, However, this record was later broken by Jermaine O’Neal and Andrew Bynum.
10.He was deeply talented in the arts. He was a singer who made a single entitled K.O.B.E. but he never released it and the video for the single was directed by Hype Williams.
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