Kobe Bryant Net Worth 2015
Kobe Bryant Net Worth 2015
Kobe Bryant is an American basketball player, currently playing for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association. He is the shooting guard in the team, and is assigned the jersey no. 24. He was born on August 23, 1978. This 1.98 m player is one of the players in basketball to receive the highest payment. Let us consider Kobe Bryant Net Worth 2015, and take a quick look at his life.
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Kobe Bryant Net Worth 2015
Name: Kobe Bryant
Net Worth: $300 Million
Annual Salary: $30.5 Million
Date of Birth: August 23, 1978
Place of Birth: Philadelphia
Profession: Basketball player, Athlete
Kobe Bryant Net Worth
Basketball legend and one of the very best players of recent time, Kobe Bryant, needs no introduction as his achievements throughout his career is enough to place him among the very best. He achieved the title of the NBA championship five times in two spells from 2000 to 2002 and again in 2009 to 2010. After becoming the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2008, he became the NBA Finals MVP twice consecutively in 2009 and 2010. Kobe was inducted in the NBA All-Star a record 16 times in 1998 and continuously from 2000 to 2014. He became the NBA All-Star Game MVP four times in 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011. Kobe was inducted in All-NBA First Team 11 times in two spells from 2002 to 2004 and again from 2006 to 2013. He was also inducted in NBA All-Defensive First Team nine times in three spells from 2000, from 2003 to 2004, and again from 2006 to 2011.
The 36-year old basketball star, Kobe Bryant, has earned a total of $62 million in the last season of NBA, according to the report published by Forbes. He had the highest salary for the fourth consecutive year during the 2013-14 season of NBA. Kobe’s last season’s salary was $30.5 million which is approximately $8 million higher than any other participants of the NBA. He also signed a two-year contract extension worth $48.5 million in November 2013 which secured his place at the top of NBA’s highest salary draw. Besides, he also earned a total of $31 million from several of his endorsements. He also invested nearly $6 million last year to buy more than 10% stake of emerging sports drink BodyArmour which was the first investment by his new company Kobe Inc.
Kobe Bean Bryant or simply just Kobe Bryant currently has an estimated total net worth of $300 million. Besides his L.A Lakers Season Salary of $30.5 million, he also earned a total of more than $30 million annually from several of his major endorser such as Turkish Air, Lenovo, Hublot, Nike and Panini. Kobe is currently tied with Landmark Sports Agency and Rob Pelinka is currently serving as his agent. He filed for divorce after ten and half years of marriage with Vanessa in December, 2011. As the settlement, his wife took possession of three mansions in the Newport Beach, California that are estimated worth of $18.8 million according to property records. It is rumored that the divorce settlement could cost him around $100-150 million.
A study that ranked wealthy professional basketball players by Wealth-X which is a firm that provides analytics for high-net-worth luxury brands and private banks, besides other services, also placed Kobe Bean at the top of their rich list. It was stated by the report that Kobe earns this huge salary, and “This is supplemented by multimillion-dollar endorsements with Nike, Coca Cola, Turkish Airlines, Mercedes-Benz, Lenovo, Panini and Hublot.” While talking about the study to rank the richest basketball players, Wealth-X President David Friedman stated, “Against the backdrop of the NBA Draft last week, it is interesting to explore the correlation between talent, performance and net worth that is revealed in this ranking.”
Kobe Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the only son and the youngest of three children of Joe Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant. Kobe is also the maternal nephew of the former NBA’s Chicago Bulls player, John “Chubby” Cox. After his parents saw the menu in a restaurant, he was named after the famous beef of Japan called “Kobe Beef”. He got his middle name “Bean” from his father’s nickname “Jellybean”. Kobe’s father left the NBA and moved his family to Rieti in Italy to continue playing professional basketball when Bryant was just six years old. He was raised Roman Catholic and learned to speak Italian and Spanish. Kobe’s family moved back to the United States after Joe Bryant’s retirement in 1991 from professional basketball.
Kobe Bryant first gained national recognition during his high school career at Lower Merion High School located in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion called Ardmore. He achieved an average of 31.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game during his junior year and was named Pennsylvania Player of the Year. His marvelous record attracted attention from several eminent college recruiters such as Duke, North Carolina, Villanova and Michigan. Kobe achieved the 1995 senior MVP award at the Adidas ABCD camp. Kobe ended his high school career at 2,883 points and became the Southeastern Pennsylvania’s all-time leading scorer while surpassing both Wilt Chamberlain and Lionel Simmons.
Kobe achieved several awards for his performance during the senior year, which includes being named Naismith High School Player of the Year, McDonald’s All-American, Gatorade Men’s National Basketball Player of the Year, and USA Today All-USA First Team player. Greg Downer, Kobe’s varsity coach once stated about him that he is “a complete player who dominates”. Bryant made the decision of being an NBA high school draftee and go directly into the NBA when he was just 17-year-old. Because of prep-to-pro NBA players were not very common that time; Kobe’s news got the attention of the crowd and media. He also achieved his SAT score of 1080 which again secured his admission to any college he chose.
Kobe met with a hectic start of his international basketball career. Because of getting married in the off-season, Kobe declined to play in the 2000 Olympics. Later, he also refused to play in the 2002 FIBA World Championship. He was once again selected for the FIBA Americas Championship 2003 but again withdrew due to surgeries and then replaced by Vince Carter. Kobe again had to leave the Olympic team due to his involvement with a legal case. His senior international career with the United States national team finally started as a member of the 2007 USA Men’s Senior National Team and USA FIBA Americas Championship Team in 2007. The team won gold and then qualified the United States men for the 2008 Olympics.
Kobe became very popular in his early career for his shooting a fall-away jump shot. Sports Illustrated journalist Chris Ballard describes Kobe’s most famous moves as the “jab step-and-pause” where instead of bringing the jab foot back he jabs his non-pivot foot forward to let the defender relax. Besides his numerous achievements and an amazing track record, Kobe has been criticized for being too selfish with the ball in certain situations throughout his career. As a fact, Kobe missed more field goal attempts in his career than any other participants in the history of NBA. Phil Jackson once stated that “Kobe tends to force the action, especially when the game isn’t going his way. When his shot is off, Kobe will pound away relentlessly until his luck turns.”
Kobe bought a Mediterranean-style mansion for $4 million located at cul-de-sac in Newport Coast, Newport Beach in January 2002. He signed a six-year contract with Adidas worth approximately $48 million before he started the 1996–97 NBA season. Kobe’s first signature shoe was the Equipment KB 8. Later, he also signed a five-year $40–45 million contract with Nike, Inc. He is chosen as the cover athlete for “NBA ’07: Featuring the Life Vol. 2”. Kobe was also appeared in commercials for the video games Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008 and Call of Duty: Black Ops in 2010. Kobe signed a contract with Nubeo in 2009 as the face of their Black Mamba collection. The luxury sports watches ranged from $25,000 to $285,000.
Kobe has indeed made some huge contributions to the sport and it is not astonishing at all that he is one of the wealthiest athletes in the industry. It is expected of him to give his fans some even greater moments in in the future. With time, Kobe will not only become even more popular, but will also earn greater fortune.
