Kobe BryantOne of the league's most well-known players is Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. In 1996, Bryant became the first player to be drafted straight out of high school, and at the time was the youngest player in NBA history to be on the court. He began as a bench player, but very quickly rose to a starting position, and since his rookie season, he has not slowed down, despite a long 14-year career. Nearly every scrap of hype heaped on this young player from Philadelphia has been seen through by the 31-year-old guard, and there is little doubt that when he finally steps away from the NBA, Bryant, a career Los Angeles player, will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.  In only his second season, Kobe Bryant became the youngest NBA All-Star starter, thanks to overwhelming fan support and an average of 16 points per game. During the lockout season of 1998-99, Bryant started all 50 games and attracted the attention of an enraptured nation. Then, legendary coach Phil Jackson joined the team in 1999, and with the deadly combination of Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and the triangle offense, the Lakers won three consecutive NBA Championships. This was despite the surfacing dispute between O'Neal and Bryant, a rivalry that has been exploited by media since 2001.  Though he has never changed cities, Kobe Bryant has seen his share of team changes. Thanks partly to his leadership, though, it is a rare season when the Lakers are less than highly competitive. During the 2007-08 season, Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 5.4 assists, and 6.3 rebounds per game, and became the youngest player to reach 20,000 points. These were not career highs, but he played all 82 games and averaged almost 40 minutes per game, and the West-best Lakers had themselves an MVP. Bryant was given the honor in a year that the Lakers made it once more to the NBA Finals (though they lost against the Celtics), and was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team for the third consecutive year.  Kobe Bryant is well-known for his supercharged playoff play; countless highlight reels could be assembled from his impossible clutch three-pointers, rabid defense, and aggressive drives and dunks. In 2009, Bryant led the Lakers back to the top, claiming the Larry O'Brien Championship trophy against the Orlando Magic in five games. He also took the NBA Finals MVP trophy and became the first player since Jerry West to average 32.4 points and 7.4 assists for a finals series. His averages placed him in an elite category with Michael Jordan, a legend he has been compared to since his beginnings in the league.  At the beginning of the 2006-07 series, Bryant decided to change his number from his iconic 8 to 24, a change that puzzled many fans and analysts alike.  He informed the media later that he had wanted 33, but that was Kareem Abdul-Jabar's retired number, and that his other choice, 24, was not available as a rookie. He'd gotten to 8 by adding up the three numbers he'd worn at the Adidas ABCD camp, 143. With the change, Bryant's jerseys became the top-selling in the U.S., Europe, and China. Kobe Bryant's career has not been all fun and games and bliss. His rivalry with Shaquille O'Neal has at times gotten heated, thanks to goading by the media. In the summer of 2003, Bryant was charged with allegations of sexual assault. His popularity plummeted as his highly-publicized trial became an international spectacle; many of his endorsements were cancelled, and sales of his jersey went down. However, the woman who had brought the case against him eventually dropped the charges, and Bryant's official record remains clean.
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