Video Resurfaces Of 15-Year-Old Kobe Bryant Winning High School Dunk Contest
Among the highlights of NBA great Kobe Bryant's career was winning the slam dunk contest as a rookie.
But before Bryant was impressing fans with high-flying, mid-air moves, he was doing the same as a high school sophomore. A video recently resurfaced of him winning a dunk contest at Lower Marion (Pa.) High School.
This was well before he entered the NBA's radar. Bryant was only 15 at the time. While the dunks seems pedestrian compared to what he did during his professional playing days, they were still impressive for someone his age.
After each slam, Bryant does a little strut to play to the audience at the small gymnasium. A few years later, the Charlotte Hornets drafted him out of high school in the first round. He was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
It didn't take long for Bryant to make an impact. By midseason of his rookie season, he was winning the slam dunk contest during the 1997 All-Star Weekend in Cleveland.
That contest was the first of many accolades Bryant accomplished throughout his 20-year NBA career. It included five titles, 18 All-Star appearances and one regular season MVP.
Bryant was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020, just months after he died in a helicopter crash. The news not only shocked the basketball nation but the entire world.
Last month the Lakers paid Bryant the ultimate respect by erecting a statue outside the arena, joining other greats Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
