bean bryant. to the world the 41-year-old was a global basketball phenomenon. the son of a pro basketball player. the philly native finished high school and was quickly drafted by the nba. at the time bryant was the youngest player in the league s history at just over 17 years old. i think a lot of people, even when i came out of high school, i think people were kind of giving me the cold shoulder to begin with because i think unfortunately some people wanted me to fail because i deified the odds. reporter: the mvp spent his entire pro career with the l.a. lakers winning five nba championships with the team. during his 20 seasons bryant became one of the league s top-scoring players, even surpassing michael jordan. on two occasions he helped secure team usa olympic gold on the world stage. bryant dealt with controversy
right across the globe. his impact was enormous. yeah. i mean, like we were saying last hour, there s not many players in sport who are known by one name. yeah. and he can be known that way. a very short list, isn t it? it is a short list. and current lakers star lebron james, of course, he looked up to bryant when he was coming up through the ranks and he was visibly emotional sunday as he got off the team plane in l.a. just a day earlier he passed bryant on the nba all-time career scoring list, moving him to number three. he spoke about that achievement before news of bryant s death. it doesn t make sense. just make a long story short, now i m here in a lakers uniform in philadelphia where he s from where the first time i ever met him. he gave me shoes the all-star week. it s surreal. it doesn t make no sense, but the universe just puts things in
your life and when you, i guess when you re living the right way or you re just giving everything to whatever you re doing, things happen organically and it s not supposed to make sense, but it just happens. sorry. and i m happy just to be in any conversation with kobe being bryant, one of the greatest basketball players ever played, one of the greatest all-time lakers. the man has two jerseys hanging up in staple center. it s just crazy. incredible. we are also hearing from nba greats like kareem abdul-jabbar. he had this message about bryant and his loss. kobe, my thoughts are with you, absolutely. rest in peace, young man. this loss is, it s just hard to comprehend. go with god. another nba legend, michael jordan, released a statement on bryant s death.
l.a. you see there in those pictures. just a day earlier. he passed bryant on the nba s all-time career scoring list. he spoke about that achievement before the news of bryant s death. i m here in a lakers uniform in philadelphia where he s from, where the first time i ever met him, gave me his shoes. it s surreal. it doesn t make no sense. i m happy to be in any conversation with kobe bean bryant, one of the all-time greatest basketball players ever played, all time lakers. the man has two jerseys hanging up in staples center. it s just crazy. great words. we are also hearing from nba greats like kareem abdul-jabbar. he had this message about kobe. kobe, my thoughts are with you, absolutely. rest in peace, young man. this loss is, it s just hard to
welcome back. kobe bryant gave what would end up being his last public statement just last night. he congratulated lebron james for passing him on the all-time nba scoring list. his instagram post said, quote, on to number two, king james. keep growing the game and charting the path for the next. graceful. after hearing news of bryant s death, lebron james you re seeing here visibly upset today as the lakers returned to los angeles from new york. and he talked about what bryant meant to him and to the game just yesterday before news of bryant s death. listen to the key lesson he says he learned from bryant as a teenage fan. when i was a kid, i was in high school. i was growing up when kobe came into the league. it wasn t a dream of mine to