Why is kobe bryant called the black mamba

Bryant's alter ego certainly did him quite a few favors throughout his stellar NBA career. He utilized the assassin-like mentality to drill shots against his opponents and came up in the clutch in the most crucial of the moments.

Bryant was able to come back and average Bryant's light shined bright even into his final NBA game in , when he scored 60 points in a season finale win over the Utah Jazz. In doing so, he became the oldest NBA player 37 years old to score 60 or more points in a game. It's hard to argue how much this mentality helped Bryant on the court and it's a moniker that he utilized to the fullest.

By Chris Bengel. Jan 27, at pm ET 1 min read. It felt like there were so many things coming at once. It was just very, very confusing. I had to organise things. So I created The Black Mamba. Jump directly to the content. Sign in. The former Los Angeles Lakers player brandished himself with the snake-inspired moniker in the early s, and it's stuck with him even after his tragic death on Sunday, January 26, , when he, his teenaged daughter Gianna, and seven other people passed away in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

In social media posts remembering the sports legend, fans have used the hashtags RIPMamba and MambaOut — nods to Bryant's Black Mamba nickname and the sign-off he'd frequently give. While hundreds of millions of people across the globe recognize Bryant's face and name, many may not be aware of his Black Mamba epithet, what it actually means, or how it came to be.

Here's the real reason why Kobe Bryant was called Black Mamba. In his auto-biographical documentary Muse via Business Insider , Bryant explained that the Black Mamba moniker came about during a particularly dark period of his life: beginning in , when a year-old woman from Colorado accused Bryant of sexual assault.

At the time, Bryant had been married to his wife Vanessa Bryant for just over two years. Though Bryant admitted to having an adulterous encounter with the woman who accused him, he denied assaulting her. In December , Bryant revealed that he was at times "a little bit" scared, and that his mind would wander during games , which impacted his performance.

The lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court , but the experience had a lasting effect on Bryant, who built the "Black Mamba" persona as a way to "separate" himself into two parts and gain some control over his life. I had to separate myself. It felt like there were so many things coming at once.