Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant was instantly beloved the moment he made his NBA debut. Here was a brash 18-year-old with good looks, a pleasing personality, and generational basketball talent. By his second year in the league, Bryant became an All-Star.
Bryant quickly unlocked his potential upon the arrival of legendary head coach Phil Jackson in Tinseltown. With the Zen Master’s help, Kobe became a force on both ends of the floor and won his first NBA Championship in 2000. And to prove it wasn’t a fluke, the Lakers did it again the following year.
No more privacy
Success is the greatest marketing tool, as they say. By 2001, Bryant was one of the most popular athletes in the world. He was no longer the high school prodigy out of Philly. The one-time MVP became a household name, and he soon felt the perils of success on his privacy.
“You know me, I never used to travel with security—I never really had the need to. But after we won the second championship then it started to get out of hand,” Bryant said in 2001, via SLAM. “My wife and I went to a movie theater and it was just crazy—there were people waiting outside the movie theater, waiting by the doors. We couldn’t enjoy ourselves.”
When they were out in public, they had to walk very fast and put their heads down. Kobe and Vanessa couldn’t go to stores or do daily errands. He also feared for their safety and employed guards to look after them.
On the edge
Unfortunately, losing his privacy was a small inconvenience compared to what happened after the Colorado incident in 2004. Kobe had to keep his guard up at all times, afraid that his career and personal life would take another hit.
Journalist Ric Bucher, who claimed he used to hang out with Bryant all the time after games, had to go through layers of security after the Colorado incident. Kobe even used a password to allow approved callers access to his hotel phone line. Bucher also found that the Lakers guard’s bodyguards had different aliases and had to call them before getting to Bryant.
Once he reached Kobe, Bucher noticed how different his body language was from before. He was no longer as gregarious as he once was. Critically, his security was always in the vicinity, keeping a close eye.
“We talked for, like, twenty minutes,” Bucher said. “He sat on the couch. I sat across from him, and it was, like, high tension. You just felt like he was on edge. I knew it didn’t have anything to do with me personally, but it felt like he was that way with everybody. He put everybody at arm’s length. It was hard to get a hold of him; it was hard to talk to him. It was hard to get his opinion or thoughts on anything. He was more guarded than he’d ever been.”
The whole world may have loved Kobe, but behind the curtains was a man who constantly had his guard up. He didn’t want to compromise and took extreme measures to protect his family.