By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun
ANKARA
Kobe Bryant, who is finishing his illustrious 20-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career, will hit the hardwood one last time tonight.
Bryant, who won the NBA Finals five times, will play his 1,566th and final game with the Los Angeles Lakers in Staples Center against Utah Jazz.
Kobe Bryant, who is also known as the ‘Black Mamba’, has passed many milestones and achieved great success during his career, including the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in 2008 and the Finals MVP awards in 2009 and 2010, when the Lakers were able to become back-to-back NBA Champions.
Lakers invited Kobe Bryant's former teammates -- including NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal -- to his final game, where there will be special introductions and a farewell video dedicated to the No.24.
Before the match, his current teammates will wear No. 24 jerseys, the same number in which Kobe sweated for the last 10 years of his career, after changing from No.8 in 2006.
Tickets for Bryant’s last game -- which are already sold out -- varied from $700 to an eye-watering $25,000 courtside view.
Bryant has averaged 16.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists so far in the 2015-2016 season, a season which the Lakers will remember as the ‘Kobe Farewell Tour’.
Highlights from Kobe's basketball-related career
Kobe Bean Bryant was born in Philadelphia in August 23, 1978. Kobe's father Joe Bryant -- who is also a former NBA player -- moved to Italy when Kobe was six years old. After finishing his career 1991, Joe and the Bryant family moved back to the U.S. and Kobe started playing high school basketball in Lower Merion High School.
Bryant, who drew attention while in high school, broke former NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain's points record in Lower Merion and then decided to enter the NBA draft.
In 1996, Bryant was selected by the Charlotte Hornets as 13th overall and was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange of Serbian pivot Vlade Divac. Kobe's dream was to play with the Lakers, because of idol Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
Bryant's first game in the NBA marked the then-record of youngest player ever to play in an NBA game. Bryant finished his first season averaging only 7.6 points per game, but also winning the Slam Dunk Contest in the All-Star weekend.
Kobe's evolvement continued in 1998 and 1999 seasons and his team finally advanced to the NBA Finals in 2000, going up against the Indiana Pacers.
Alongside with dominant center Shaquille O'Neal, Bryant won his first NBA title, averaging 22.5 points.
Kobe, Shaq, legendary coach Phil Jackson and the Lakers got the title two more times to complete a ‘three-peat’ in 2001 and 2002, when Kobe's scoring average kept rising.
81-point game in 2006
Without Shaquille O'Neal and coach Phil Jackson in the 2005-2006 season, Kobe entered a new era with the Lakers, where he was the only superstar in the team.
Kobe averaged 35.4 in that season and scored 62 points in only three quarters of playing time against the Dallas Mavericks in December.
On Jan. 22, 2006, basketball fans witnessed history when the Black Mamba scored a dazzling 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the most ever since Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points in a game in 1962. He got the franchise record as well with the performance.
However, in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Back at it again with the championships
In the 2007-2008 season, with Phil Jackson at the helm and power forward Pau Gasol to be his sidekick, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers managed to be the Western Conference Champions and advanced to the NBA Finals.
However, despite Kobe being the MVP in the regular season, the Lakers could not handle the Boston Celtics' great trio of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and lost in six games.
In 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, Kobe Bryant would finally got his fourth and fifth NBA rings, beating Hedo Turkoglu-led Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics respectively.
Kobe Bryant was selected as MVP in both championship runs and added more glamour to his career.
A career with countless success
Kobe has managed to get his name included to many achievement lists during his career, which he only spent with one team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant, who has scored a total of 33,583 points before, is currently sitting in the third spot in NBA's all-time scoring list, only trailing to another Lakers legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone.
The Black Mamba is the only player in NBA history to have more than 30,000 points and 6,000 assists.
Kobe's 20 years with the Lakers is the most seasons by any player with one franchise.
Kobe's MVP total in All-Star games is four, a record he shares with Bob Pettit, a former St. Louis Hawks legend.
He was also selected to All-Star games 18 times in a row, a current record in the NBA.
His record of being selected for an All-Star starting five is 16, which is another record.
Bryant, during his unstoppable 2005-2006 season, averaged 35.4 points per game, the ninth biggest average in NBA history.
Bryant has a streak of four games back-to-back surpassing the 50-point barrage, again only trailing to Chamberlain in that category.
The Black Mamba currently holds the NBA-record on making the most three-point field goals in a game with 12, sharing the record with former player Donyell Marshall and current NBA-MVP Stephen Curry.
Bryant, whose career took off in his younger years, is the current NBA-record holder for being the youngest player ever to be in the starting five in an NBA game with 18 years and 158 days of age.
He also started the 1998 All-Star game at the age of 19 years and 169 days, which is another record.
