Kobe Bryant has always been one of the best players in the NBA due to his impact on the game.
His performances on the court have always been great, but he has also come to fall in love with the game.
He played only for the LA Lakers, giving fans many memorable performances in his 20-year NBA career.
During this time he wore two iconic figures on his jersey. Take the opportunity to see how Black Mamba worked with these numbers.
The Hall of Fame was a special achievement, and Bryant managed to do it, but he might have had another based on how elite he was with both iconic figures.
The five-time champion was not number 8 in the first decade of his career, but switched to number 24 in 2006. Both numbers were retired by the Lakers in his honor.
He scored over 16,000 points, got both numbers and won multiple championships.
Bryant spent the final years of his career with injuries issues, ending up playing fewer games as No. 24.
As far as achievements go, Bryant won the MVP award for Jersey No. 24, but the jersey No. 8 gave him more points, rebounds, steals and blocks.
Because of how special he is in both jerseys, the Lakers decided to hang both jerseys on the rafters, making him the only NBA player to achieve this feat.
| statistics | No 8 | No 24 |
| point | 16,866 | 16,777 |
| rebound | 3634 | 3413 |
| assist | 3148 | 3158 |
| I’ll steal | 1059 | 885 |
| block | 431 | 201 |
| All-NBA appearance | 8 | 7 |
Bryant came straight from high school to the Lakers, but he had a lot of talent around him.
For the first few years of his career, Bryant had Shaquille O’Neill to lead the way for him.
But when he switched to No. 24, the black mamba was the Lakers’ face.
When asked about which of the two numbers he preferred during Jersey’s retirement, Bryant said:
“And physically for me, it was hard to wake up at night. It’s shattering. I have a bone fragment on my legs during that series along with the Celtics in Boston.
“If you force me to choose it, I would probably go 24 for that.”