Kobe Bryant begrudgingly turned 40 on Thursday and celebrated the milestone birthday that most every person, and especially athlete, dreads with an appropriate graphic tee for the occasion.
The future Hall of Famer’s 40th birthday led to plenty of tributes and celebrations from fans, teams, and media outlets. Bryant’s standing on the NBA’s all-time list of greats is a polarizing topic of debate, but there is no doubt that he’s among the very best to every play, even if his placement gets argued all the time.
Towards the end of his career, Kobe was best known for his back to the basket game, morphing his game into one of post moves and cunning rather than that of explosiveness and athleticism. That means there’s a chunk of fans of a certain age that never saw Kobe in his prime and, thus, may not have a full appreciation for exactly how tremendous of an athlete he was in his younger years — with the occasional flash being shown in his later years.
The NBA, luckily, has hours upon hours of footage of Bryant at their disposal, and the league honored Bryant’s 40th birthday with a compilation of his 40 greatest dunks. The 8-plus minute video is well worth your time to remember how fun Bryant was as a high-flyer back in the day.
40 for 40… @KobeBryant's BEST 40 DUNKS! #Kobe40 pic.twitter.com/DIWvgkafG8
— NBA (@NBA) August 23, 2018
Unsurprisingly, the majority of Bryant’s finest efforts above the rim came from the No. 8 years, but there were still some impressive dunks from No. 24. While the back end of his career saw the turnaround jumper become his signature move, watching this video reminds us that for some time, 360 dunks and reverse dunks on the baseline were a staple of Kobe’s game.
