Three years ago, on January 26, 2020 the world lost one of the best basketball players to ever play in the NBA, when Kobe Bryant died in a catastrophic helicopter accident alongside his daughter Gianna and other passengers that were traveling for a youth basketball team.
Kobe Bryant's No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys
During his 20 year career, Kobe Bryant only played for the Los Angeles Lakers, after he was drafted by the team coming out of high school. He wore two jersey numbers during that span, No. 8 and No. 24, curiously a decade with each.
During his career he was selected 15 times to the All-NBA team, eight with No. 8 and seven more while wearing No. 24.
While wearing his No. 8 jersey he won three championships, going back-to-back-to-back alongside Shaquille O'Neal in 2000, 2001, 2002.
In the last ten years of his career, when he wanted a fresh start and decided to switch his jersey number to 24, he managed to secure a back-to-back championship alongside Pau Gasol in 2009 and 2010, but being the leader and a decisive factor in both titles, earning his lone two NBA Finals MVP.
He scored over 16,777 points with both jerseys, another proof that if only ten years of his career were accounted for, he would have still had a Hall of Fame resume regardless.
Why Kobe changed from 8 to 24?
After ten years into his career, Kobe Bryant decided it was time to change his jersey number in the looks of having a fresh start.
Kobe wore No. 8 when he entered the NBA because of the jersey number he was asigned in the Adidas ABCD camp for high school stars, which was 143, so he added them and came up with number 8 as his jersey choice for his rookie year.
When Kobe switched to No. 24, the reasoning behind it was to use the number he wore as a freshman in high school.
Bryant came into the NBA wearing No. 8, the sum of the digits on his jersey (143) at the Adidas ABCD camp for high school stars. After 10 years, Bryant wanted a fresh start, so he began wearing No. 24, the number he'd worn as a freshman in high school.
When late Los Angeles Lakers Hall of Fame shooting guard Kobe Bryant changed his jersey number from eight to 24 during the 2006-07 season, he explained it at the time as "growth" from his prior digits. "Then 24 is a growth from [No. 8]," Bryant once said.
Bryant honed his killer instinct, with his work ethic and never-give-an-inch mindset driving him to five NBA championships and eleven All-NBA First Team honors. The two-time Finals MVP scored 33,643 points during his career, with 81 of those daggers coming on January 22, 2006 in a game against the Toronto Raptors.
8. Another reason why Kobe chose the No. 24 is because he was ready for a “new beginning.” Shaquille O'Neal left LA a few years earlier, and after his legal troubles in Eagle, Colorado, Kobe wanted to start fresh and get back to his basketball roots. “Then 24 is a growth from that,” Kobe explained.
He switched from 8 to 24. The reason for his switch is similar to most other players who switch their jersey numbers - they wore it at some point in the past. Bryant wore 24 at Lower Merion High School before being drafted by the Hornets, traded to the Lakers, and being a part of a championship team wearing number 8.
That's when he introduced the idea of an alter ego and 'Black Mamba' was born. Inspired by the code name of an assassin in the cult favorite film, Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino, Bryant sought to not only reinvent himself but create a means of deflecting the intense backlash that he had begun to face.
The Lakers announced last month that Bryant would get two more statues, one with him in a No. 24 jersey, which he wore in his last 10 seasons, and the other with daughter Gianna, who also was killed in the crash.
He continued to be among the premier players in the league through the 2012–13 season when he suffered a torn achilles tendon at age 34. His next two seasons were cut short by injuries to his knee and shoulder, respectively. Citing physical decline, Bryant retired after the 2015–16 season.
Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, Kobe Bryant's father, indeed had a career in the NBA. He was a professional basketball player who played for several teams in the NBA during the 1970s and 1980s. His career in the NBA spanned from 1975 to 1983, during which he showcased his skills on the court.
Some of the top basketball players who wore 24 include names like Kobe Bryant (during the second chapter of his career after switching from 8), Moses Malone, and Rick Barry.
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