The Mamba Mentality: How I Play

Bryant’s legacy with the Los Angeles Lakers is exceptional and significantly frames the book’s trajectory and success story. There is only one other player in the history of professional basketball (Dirk Nowitzki) who spent more time playing for one team than Bryant, and his record of 21 years exceeds Bryant’s by only one year. For perspective, there are only 20 players in the history of the NBA who have spent more than 15 years with one basketball team. Bryant remains the longest-tenured player in the history of the Lakers franchise, and he won five NBA championship rings while he was playing for the team, accounting for a third of their overall titles since their founding in 1947. He scored a total of 33,643 points for the Lakers over the course of his tenure, which places him fourth in all-time scoring as of December 2022, and second in most points scored in a single NBA game at 81. The history of the Lakers is referred to in periods of time, including the famous “Showtime Lakers” of 1979-1991, mentioned in the text. The period from 1996-2004 is called “The O’Neal-Bryant Dynasty,” named for the leadership of Shaquille O’Neal and