UAE: The world's tallest building - Burj Khalifa in Dubai - lit up in tribute to the late NBA basketball star Kobe Bryant just on Sunday.
Tourists and fans watched as the facade of the iconic building displayed a photo of a smiling Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, along with the words 'Rest In Peace'.
Bryant, the 18-time All-Star who won five NBA championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career, died in a helicopter crash along with seven others, including Gianna, on 26th January.
Bryant, who died at the age of 41, was known for his remarkable scoring ability wih his turnaround jump shot almost being unstoppable. Teaming up with fellow All-Star Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe won three consecutive NBA titles from 2000 to 2002 and later won two more rings, in 2009 and 2010.
Being known as the Black Mamba, Bryant twice led the NBA in scoring and won the league's Most Valuable Player award in 2008.
Born on August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Bryant went straight from high school to the NBA after being drafted by the Charlotte Hornets as the 13th overall pick of the 1996 draft, making him the youngest NBA player in history at age 17. He was then traded by the Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers for veteran center Vlade Divac.
Kobe soon established himself as one of the most decorated players in NBA history, while also winning two Olympic gold medals for the USA men's basketball team in 2008 and 2012.
On January 22, 2006, Bryant scored 81 points in Lakers' 122-104 win over Toronto. Only Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962 tops this performance.In his career's final game in 2016, Kobe scored 60 points on 50 shots, thus helping the Lakers win against the Utah Jazz at a frenzied Staples Center in Los Angeles.
He thus finished his NBA career with 33,643 points.
