The superstar professional basketball player Kobe Bryant is the author of the epistolary love poem “Dear Basketball,” and Bryant published it in 2015 to announce his retirement from basketball. Bryant played in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the top basketball league in the world, for 20 years, and the entire time he played for the Los Angeles Lakers—a storied NBA franchise. Bryant stockpiled awards, accomplishments, and accolades. He won five NBA championships, two NBA Finals most valuable player (MVP) awards, one regular season MVP award, and played in the NBA All-Star Game 18 times.

To maintain his high level of play, Bryant painstakingly practiced and reviewed films of great players. His unrelenting commitment to basketball caused tension on his teams, as did his behavior off the court. The poem acknowledges that Bryant had problems, but his unyielding love for the game made his tumultuous career worth it. The poem’s themes include Love and Obsession, Fate and Destiny, and When to Let Go. The poem sends the message that a person can let go of something even if they love it deeply. Aside from the poem, Bryant published a book, The Mamba Mentality (2018), to illuminate his dedication to basketball. In January 2020, Bryant, his teen daughter, and several others died in a helicopter crash.

Content Warning: This study guide includes discussions about the 2003 rape allegations against Kobe Bryant.

Poet Biography

Kobe Bryant was born on August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His dad, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant (he liked jelly beans), played in the NBA for the Philadelphia 76ers and other teams, but Joe eventually moved their family to Italy, where he played professionally. Upon returning to Philadelphia, Bryant attended Lower Merion high school, and he flourished on the basketball team. He practiced as intensely as he played, and according to Roland Lanzenby’s biography of Bryant, Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant (2017), he kept a closet at home filled with video tapes of Michael Jordan—the Chicago Bulls shooting guard and the person that many say is the best basketball player ever. Bryant could’ve played college basketball anywhere but opted to enter the 1996 NBA draft after high school. He was 18 when the Charlotte Hornets drafted him in the first round before trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers. Lazenby describes Bryant’s approach to basketball as “overwhelming, with his energy and need to dominate” (241), adding, “[He was] completely obsessed with perfection” (514).

Bryant’s intolerance for anything less than greatness caused frequent drama. He regularly feuded with the big superstar center Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neil, believing that Shaq could practice harder and be in better shape. He also quarreled with his head coach, Phil Jackson. Jackson coached Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls—winning six championships. Bryant thought Jackson should organize the team around him and not Shaq, and eventually, the team traded Shaq and let Jackson go. People think Bryant orchestrated their departures, and Jackson called Bryant uncoachable.

Nevertheless, Bryant won three championships (2000-2002) with Shaq and Jackson, and two more championships (2009-2010) once Jackson returned to the team. Aside from winning championships, Bryant played in 18 All-Star Games, was named MVP in two NBA Finals games and once in the regular season, and surpassed Michael Jordan in points scored. In his final game as a Los Angeles Laker on April 13, 2016, Bryant, despite suffering from an array of injuries, scored 60 points.

In 1999, Bryant met Vanessa Urbieta Cornejo. He was in his early twenties and she was a teen. A couple of years later, they married, and people speculate that Vanessa’s influence led him to sever ties with his mom, dad, and sisters. In the summer of 2003, Bryant checked into a Colorado hotel before a surgical operation, and a 19-year-old woman working for the hotel accused him of rape. With Vanessa by his side, sporting a new $4 million ring, Bryant held a press conference: He admitted to adultery but denied the rape charges. Eventually, the parties settled the case out of court.

Bryant and Vanessa had four daughters, but Vanessa had to endure ongoing rumors of infidelity. In 2011, she filed for a divorce. A year later, the couple called off the divorce. In January 2020, Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven more people died in a helicopter crash.

Poem Text

Bryant, Kobe. “Dear Basketball.” 2015. The Players’ Tribune.

Summary

The speaker is author Kobe Bryant—named specifically as “Kobe” (Line 52) at the poem’s close. Kobe writes a letter to basketball—hence the opening, “Dear Basketball” (Line 1) and the closing, “Love you always / Kobe” (Lines 51-52). He tells basketball that he loved it since he put on his dad’s socks and pretended he was attempting game-winning shots at the Great Western Forum, where the Los Angeles Lakers played basketball from 1967 through 1999, when the Lakers moved to the Staples Center.

The speaker Kobe tells basketball his love for it is “so deep” (Line 9). He gave basketball everything: his body, soul, mind, and spirit. Kobe doesn’t see “the end of the tunnel” (Line 14), but he sees himself “[r]unning out of one” (Line 16) of the tunnels the NBA players emerge from before games.

Kobe’s love for basketball puts him on the run. He runs on myriad basketball courts and after countless loose balls on the court. Basketball wanted him to “hustle” (Line 20), but Kobe gave it more than hard work—he gave basketball his heart. Basketball “called” (Line 24) Kobe, and he answered by playing through pain and injuries. Nothing made Kobe feel as alive as basketball.

Grateful for basketball helping Kobe accomplish his childhood dream of playing for the Lakers, Kobe can’t “love [basketball] obsessively for much longer” (Line 32). The upcoming basketball season will be his last one in the NBA. His heart and mind can take the beating, but his body needs a break. Kobe is ready to loosen his grip on basketball, and he wants to cherish the remaining moments. Whatever happens in the future, Kobe will “always be that kid” (Line 45), pretending the trash can is a basketball hoop, with only five seconds left to make the game-winning shot. Kobe will love basketball forever.