30 NBA players who also had kids play in the league

NBA players who also had kids play in the league: Joe Bryant/Kobe Bryant

Joe “Jellybean” Bryant was a first-round pick in the 1975 NBA Draft and played for three teams across seven seasons before moving to Europe and playing overseas for the remainder of his career. After his playing career, Bryant got into coaching and most notably was the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.

21 years after being selected 14th overall in the 1975 NBA Draft, his son Kobe “Black Mamba” Bryant was drafted with the 13th pick in the 1996 draft. Taken out of Lower Merion high school at just 17 years of age, Kobe would go on to have a legendary career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Unlike his father, Kobe would play his entire career with a single franchise. For his first two seasons in the league, he was coming off the bench, and despite only starting one game his second year, he was named an All-Star starter and had an epic showdown with Michael Jordan during the All-Star game.

The younger Bryant developed a reputation as a supremely confident and unflappable player with a killer instinct and one of the most clutch players in history. On Jan 22, 2006, Kobe scored the second-most points in an NBA game when he dropped 81 against the Toronto Raptors. At the time of his retirement in 2016, he was third in scoring (33,643 points) all-time behind Kareem Abdul-Jabaar and Karl Malone.

In his 20 seasons with the Lakers, Kobe made seven finals appearances, winning five championships and two Finals MVP awards in the process. Somehow he only won a single MVP award during his illustrious career, but he finished top-five in MVP voting 11 times and was a top-three vote-getter five times. He’s the franchise leader in games played (1,346), minutes (48,637), points, steals (1,944), field goals made (11,719), 3-pointers made (1,827), and free throws made (8,378). He’s also the only person to have multiple numbers retired by a single franchise.

Here’s a list of some of Bryant’s most notable achievements during his basketball career:

• 5x NBA champion
• 2x Finals MVP
• 2x scoring champion
• 18x All-Star
• 4x All-Star MVP
• 1997 Slam Dunk Champion
• 2 Olympic Gold medals
• 1 FIBA Gold medal
• 2007-08 NBA MVP
• 1996-97 All-Rookie team
• 15x All-NBA team
• 12x All-Defensive team

In the aftermath of his NBA career, Bryant won an Oscar and published a children’s book. Bryant was also a dedicated advocate for women in sports and an inspiration to kids all over the globe. Last year Bryant was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in May of this year, the NBA will hold ceremonies to celebrate the 2020 inductees after having to postpone last year due to the ongoing pandemic.