It was a celebration of the careers of Bryant and LeBron James, who passed Bryant during the game for third place on the NBA’s career scoring list. Bryant was one of the most dominant players on the court in NBA history, racking up five NBA titles, a record 18 straight All-Star Game selections and four All-Star Game MVP Awards. Kobe was also an amazing dad who loved his family deeply—and took great pride in his daughter’s love of basketball. A 21-year-old Bryant landed on the cover of Forbes in 2000, armed with a new six-year, $71 million playing contract and endorsement deals with Adidas, Mattel, Sprite, Spalding and Giorgio Armani. McDonald’s and Nutella dropped Bryant as an endorser, but Nike, which had signed Bryant to a four-year, $40 million deal just before the accusation, stuck by him.

Source: Forbes January 26, 2020 23:33 UTC