When Kobe Bryant was 6, his father uprooted the family to Italy to eke out a few more paychecks after his NBA career.
In 1984, when Kobe Bryant was 6, his father, Joe, uprooted him and his family to Italy to eke out a few more paychecks after an eight-year NBA career.
“I knew it was going to be different, that the culture was different,” he later recalled. “The first time we went in our house and turned on the TV, there was an Italian cartoon, and me and my sisters were rolling. We were dying. It was on in Italian but they had the same cartoon in America. It was the same exact cartoon, but it had just had Italian words. TwitterAnd yet, Kobe’s early days in Italy helped forge his future as a superstar, writes Mike Sielski in “” , out Tuesday.
Joe Bryant graced the NBA courts for eight years, playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, the San Diego Clippers and the Houston Rockets.“The arena crowd would stay put and stare, and it never bothered the boy. The game officials would have to kick him off the court so they could restart the game.” When he returned to the US at 13, Kobe became an instant standout on his Philadelphia school’s basketball team.It was also where Joe came to realize the true value of family, says the author, after a past scandal nearly destroyed the dad’s marriage and career.
Back in Italy, life was a revelation for Joe. Gone were the endless flights and nights spent in hotels away from home. Now, he could play once a week — Kobe would often accompany him on games on the road — and always get back to the Bryant home afterwards. In 2001, Kobe married Vanessa Laine and they had four daughters together, including Gianna , who died beside him in a 2020 helicopter crash.In 1992 Joe Bryant retired from playing basketball. The family moved back to the States when Kobe was 13, settling in Lower Merion in Montgomery County, Philadelphia. One of the principal reasons for returning to Philly, Joe explained, was that he didn’t want his children to forget how to speak English. But Kobe struggled to readjust.
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