Kobe Bryant

1978–2020 · NBA shooting guard · Los Angeles Lakers, 1996–2016

Kobe Bean Bryant (born Philadelphia, 23 August 1978; died Calabasas, California, 26 January 2020) spent his entire twenty-season NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning five championships, the 2008 MVP award and eighteen All-Star selections. After retiring in 2016 he moved into writing and film, winning an Academy Award for the animated short Dear Basketball. The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, published in 2018, was his own account of how he prepared, practised and thought about the game — written in short, blunt entries rather than as a conventional memoir.

Traced to source

5 quotes we’ve traced to Kobe Bryant

“Get over yourself! 'Cause it's not about you, man”

Verified

“I can't believe how fast 20 years went by... Mamba Out!”

Verified

“No matter what, people are going to like you or not like you. So be authentic, and let them like you or not for who you actually are”

Verified

“Everything negative — pressure, challenges — is all an opportunity for me to rise”

Attributed

“The mamba mentality is a constant quest to try to be better today than you were yesterday”

Attributed

Did they really say it?

Thought Kobe Bryant said something else?

Type a quote you think Kobe Bryant said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.