Kobe Bryant Trivia
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96 free Kobe Bryant trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
53 free Kobe Bryant trivia questions with answers. Kobe Bryant packed more into twenty seasons than most franchises manage in fifty, and this quiz walks through all of it. The questions cover his childhood in Italy and the Kobe-beef name, Lower Merion and the Brandy prom date, the 1996 draft-day trade for Vlade Divac, the three-peat with Shaq, the 81-point night against Toronto, the switch from 8 to 24, the 2008 MVP and the Redeem Team, back-to-back Finals MVPs, the Achilles, the 60-point farewell on 50 shots, the Oscar for Dear Basketball, and the legacy that followed January 2020. Easy questions ask which team drafted him and how many points he scored against the Raptors; the hard ones want the Sixth Man runner-up season, the coach of his 19th year and how he arrived at number 8. Written for Lakers fans, fantasy leaguers and anyone settling a Mamba-versus-Jordan debate. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on Kobe Bryant, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 96 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Kobe Bryant was named after what?
A style of Japanese beef
A style of Japanese beef: his father picked the name after spotting Kobe beef on a restaurant menu.
Q 02Which future WNBA star befriended young Kobe while both of their fathers were playing pro basketball abroad?
Tamika Catchings
Tamika Catchings: decades later she and Kobe were enshrined together in the Naismith Hall of Fame's class of 2020.
Q 03Which soccer club did Kobe call his favourite team growing up?
A.C. Milan
A.C. Milan: he spent ages 6 to 13 abroad while his father played pro basketball, and grew up loving the club.
Q 04Kobe was the first guard to jump straight from high school to the NBA; which forward had done it a year earlier?
Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett: owners wanted to stop deals like his record $126 million contract, and the 1998-99 lockout followed.
Q 05Kobe's 2000 rap single 'K.O.B.E.' featured which supermodel singing the hook?
Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks: they performed it at NBA All-Star Weekend in 2000, but the single flopped and Sony dropped him.
Q 06Kobe turned down the lead role in Spike Lee's 'He Got Game'; which NBA player took the part?
Ray Allen
Ray Allen: Kobe passed on the part to spend that summer in the gym, and Allen starred opposite Denzel Washington.
Q 07In May 1996, Kobe was the prom date of which R&B singer?
Brandy
Kobe took Brandy, then starring in the sitcom Moesha, to Lower Merion's senior prom in Philadelphia in May 1996; the two had met earlier that year and stayed friends.
Q 08Which team originally selected Kobe in the 1996 NBA draft before trading him to the Lakers?
Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets took Kobe 13th overall in 1996 on the Lakers' behalf, having agreed before the draft to trade his rights to Los Angeles.
Q 09The Lakers acquired Kobe's draft rights in exchange for which center?
Vlade Divac
Vlade Divac: he threatened to retire rather than leave Los Angeles, before relenting and letting the deal go through.
Q 10Which Lakers general manager made the trade for Kobe after watching him work out?
Jerry West
Jerry West: the same trade cleared the cap space he used to sign Shaquille O'Neal.
Q 11Which former Lakers coach entered the Naismith Hall of Fame in the same class as Kobe?
Rudy Tomjanovich
Rudy Tomjanovich: he had stepped down as the Lakers' coach midway through 2004-05, citing concerns for his health.
Q 12At 18 years and 158 days, Kobe became the youngest what in NBA history?
Starter
Starter: he was that young because he had skipped college to go straight from high school to the NBA.
Q 13Kobe won which All-Star weekend event in 1997, at 18 the youngest champion ever?
Slam Dunk Contest
Slam Dunk Contest: he was only third after the first round, then won the final.
Q 21Kobe took the nickname 'Black Mamba' from a codename in which films?
Kill Bill
Kobe borrowed 'Black Mamba' from the assassin codename in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films, saying he wanted to strike with the snake's 99% accuracy at maximum speed.
Q 22On December 20, 2005, Kobe scored 62 points in just three quarters against which team?
Dallas Mavericks
Against the Dallas Mavericks on December 20, 2005, Kobe had 62 points after three quarters, more than the whole Dallas team's 61, and sat out the fourth.
Q 23Kobe scored his career-high 81 points in January 2006 against which team?
Toronto Raptors
Q 14In his second season, Kobe Bryant was runner-up for which NBA award?
Sixth Man of the Year
In 1997-98 Kobe, then a bench player, finished second to Danny Manning for Sixth Man of the Year; fans also voted the 19-year-old into the All-Star starting five.
Q 15Kobe's play took a leap in 1999 when which coach was hired by the Lakers?
Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson: he brought the triangle offense from Chicago, and Kobe and Shaq won the next three NBA titles.
Q 16In the 2000 Finals against Indiana, Kobe hurt his ankle in Game 2 after landing on whose foot?
Jalen Rose
Jalen Rose: Rose later admitted he slid his foot under Kobe on purpose, and Kobe missed the next game.
Q 17The Lakers completed their three-peat in 2002 by sweeping which team in the Finals?
New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets: after Shaquille O'Neal overpowered their big men, they traded for center Dikembe Mutombo that summer.
Q 18Kobe returned from his torn Achilles, only to fracture what six games later?
His knee
His knee: he missed the rest of that season, and the Lakers finished 27-55.
Q 19Kobe hit a record 12 threes in 2003; who raised the record to 14 in 2018?
Klay Thompson
Klay Thompson: he had struggled to start that season, then made 14 of 24 threes against the Chicago Bulls in just 27 minutes.
Q 20The Lakers lost the 2004 Finals in five games to which team, after which Shaq was traded?
Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons: that summer Shaq was sent to Miami, leaving Kobe as the team's undisputed leader.
Toronto Raptors: the first Kobe statue outside the Lakers' arena, unveiled in 2024, depicts him right after that game.
Q 24Kobe's career-high game in 2006 broke a Lakers single-game record of 71 points held by whom?
Elgin Baylor
Elgin Baylor: Wilt Chamberlain's famous 100 came for another franchise, so it never counted as a Lakers record.
Q 25Kobe averaged 35.4 points a game in 2005-06, but who won that season's MVP?
Steve Nash
Steve Nash: his Phoenix Suns then knocked the Lakers out of the playoffs, rallying from 3-1 down.
Q 26Why did Kobe switch from 8 to 24 in 2006?
It was his first high-school number
It was his first high-school number: in 2017 the Lakers retired both of his numbers, 8 and 24.
Q 27Which player, acquired in a mid-season 2008 trade, helped Kobe lead the Lakers to his only MVP season?
Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol: that season ended in a Finals loss, but with Gasol the Lakers won the next two titles.
Q 28Kobe played all 82 games of 2007-08 despite an injury to which body part, rather than opting for surgery?
His shooting-hand pinkie
Kobe tore a ligament in his shooting-hand pinkie in February 2008, with an avulsion fracture, but postponed surgery, played all 82 games and carried the injury through the Beijing Olympics.
Q 29In the 2008 Olympic final, Team USA beat which country 118-107 for its first gold since 2000?
Spain
Spain: the Americans had routed Spain by 37 points earlier in the Games, yet the final stayed close until late.
Q 30Kobe won his first Finals MVP in 2009 as the Lakers beat which team in five games?
Orlando Magic
The Lakers beat the Orlando Magic 4-1 in the 2009 Finals and Kobe, averaging 32.4 points, was named Finals MVP; he repeated a year later against Boston for his fifth ring.