It was Kobe Bryant Day yesterday as the Los Angeles City Council honored the recently retired Los Angeles Laker on the date of the jersey numbers he wore with the team.
City Councilman Jose Huizar said declaring Aug. 24, 2016 in Bryant’s honor “is the city of Los Angeles’ way of thanking him for his single-minded dedication to excellence, the fans and the entire city and region of Los Angeles.”
“For 20 years, we were all the beneficiaries of Kobe’s incredible talent and legendary work ethic, and on 8-24 we’ll gather to say, ‘Thank you, Mamba,”’ Huizar said, referring to Bryant’s nickname.
Bryant wore the number 8 his first 10 seasons and 24 for the final 10.
Bryant played his entire 20-season career with the Lakers, helping them win five NBA championships, and was chosen as the NBA Finals MVP for both of the two most recent championships.
The 6-foot-6-inch Bryant, a guard for most of his career was listed as a forward-guard in his final season, scored 33,643 points, the third most in league history, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928).
Bryant was the league’s MVP in the 2007-2008 season, received All-NBA honors 15 times, including 11 first-team selections, and was chosen to play in the league’s All-Star Game 18 times.
This week, Bryant announced he will be forming a $100 million venture capitalist fund, based in Los Angeles, with Jeff Stibel, a financial manager who Bryant has invested with in 15 different companies since 2013. The company, Bryant Stibel, will reportedly focus primarily on tech, media and data companies and is expected to last “the next few years,” Bryant told the Wall Street Journal. On Tuesday he rang in the opening session of the New York Stock Exchange.
“It’s the inner belief that a person has that he will endure no matter what the obstacle may be,” Bryant said. “It’s that persistence, the entrepreneur doing what he or she truly believes in and truly loves to do.”
Bryant joins Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks as a name partner of a fund in the venture capital tech space. Anthony and business partner Stuart Goldfarb formed Melo 7 Tech Partners in 2013.
