Kobe Bryant 22 points in SPL vs China 1996-97 *RARE

July ??? 1996
The Pyramid Long Beach State Arena
Long Beach, CA

No Boxscore

Statline: In about 31 minutes: 22 points, 4 assists, 8-18 FG, 1-5 3 pt, 4-5 FT

Background: This is one of Kobe Bryant's Summer Pro League Games. Back then, SPL games were played in 2 halves and 20 minutes each half instead of nowadays 10 minutes with 4 quarters. The game was played in Long Beach and in this game the Lakers played Team China. The game itself was never broadcasted by the NBA but it was filmed by the Laker Organization for player evaluating purposes. So the game has no commentary, it is like a normal NBA broadcast with no scoreboards on the bottom, no watermarks, replays, and with ingame audio(although you can't hear what the players say on the court).

This particular game shows Kobe Bryant as a 17 year old, the youngest player to ever be drafted into the NBA at the time. Bryant had shattered every record in high school and had completely torn the basketball court apart. The Lakers traded Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant, a move that at the time was considered a high risk. But no one had the vision Laker GM Jerry West had on the young fella, and little did anyone else know how good he would become in future years.

A month later, Kobe Bryant participated in the Summer Pro League. In this game, Kobe has the crowd ooh-ing and ahh-ing over his many tricks in his bag. Kobe has the crowd in his hands as he shows flashes of what is about to come in his first year in the NBA. Although very flashy, Kobe was also very clumsy at times as he made rookie mistakes here and there. This game is however a highlight reel of a young Kobe Bryant and his flashy style at it's best.

Other Notes: Derek Fisher is also in this game wearing number 9.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Kobe
• Bryant
• 30
• 40
• Shaq
• O'neal
• Lakers
• Vintage
• Afro
• high
• school
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999
• dunk
• 360
• reverse
• alleyoop
• airball
• clutch

[phantomsmokes]

Haha the video is 6 minutes long, and you conclude that he is a ball-hog? lol You're a retard. The video is only focusing on Kobe Bryant, not the whole game. Use some common sense.

[PhanatixDDH]

He was 17 years old dude. chill out.

[pandamalone]

see 4:40 awesome defense on kobe

[LiLSiCk916]

4:42 VINTAGE KOBE... omg this guy was unbelievably good for a 17 year old.

[magic32v7182]

4:41~~that is AMAZING~~~

[JMiahNYC20Fo]

if i was kobe and del harris ddnt start me i wouldov called for a trade

[HanGookPOWER]

@nitotech No it's a summer league game. Not pre-season.

[nitotech]

Damn was this a preseason game? Todays games don't make this much noise. The crowd was buzzing. Gotta love that nasty kobe crossover

[Markley24]

Your statline doesn't add up to 22pts...

[eastsider251]

starting at 4:41 was a sexy crossover lol kobe had mad handles

[razzle9438]

wow! kobe was so RAW! his handles ......i never seen his handles on point like that before! this guy did rite by going straight to the nba!

[leeel2003]

KOBE BRYANT