Player Profile: Kobe Bryant

Anyone who knows me knows that Kobe Bryant is not one of my “most-liked” players in the NBA, but there is no doubt he is one of the best players in the league. It would have been easy for me to write about someone I love like Steve Nash or Ray Allen or retired players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. (By the way, I will write about Nash one day—he is awesome!). However, I thought I should write about someone I’m not particularly fond of but still respect as a player. Going into his 17th season with the Los Angeles Lakers, let's take a look at Kobe's stats:

● 5× NBA Champion (2000-2002, 2009-2010)

● 2× Finals Most Valuable Player (2009-2010) and NBA MVP (2008)

● 14× NBA All-Star (1998, 2000-2012)

● 4× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011)

● 2× Gold Medalist Olympic Men’s Basketball (2008, 2012)

Kobe has scored 29,484 points in his NBA career, ranking him as seventh highest of all time. His career high for scoring in a single game was 81 points on January 22, 2006 against the Toronto Raptors—the only player to outscore him was Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point single game scoring record against the former Philadelphia Warriors in a 169-147 win over the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. Kobe has 1,722 steals under his belt, which ranks him in the top 20 for steals in NBA history (#18).

Kobe’s aggressive nature and arrogance in basketball, not to mention off-court dramas with the law in the past and cheating/divorce issues with his wife now, rub most people the wrong way, but his numbers certainly indicate he is an exceptional NBA player. 

Kobe's 17th season will undoubtedly be an exciting one since Steve Nash and Dwight Howard have joined him and the rest of the Lakers. Will this season be the one where Kobe wins his sixth championship?