The Rise of Kobe Bryant

World's Best Basketball Player

Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978(1978-08-23)) is an American All-Star shooting guard who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career and made instant headlines when he decided to go directly into the NBA upon graduation. Bryant and then-teammate Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. After O'Neal's departure following the 2003–04 season, Bryant became the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. In 2006, Bryant scored a career high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second highest number of points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point performance. Bryant won his fourth NBA championship in 2009, leading the Lakers to their fifteenth title. He also won his first Finals MVP award.

Bryant was awarded the regular season's Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in the 2007–08 NBA season and led his team to the 2008 NBA Finals as the first seed in the Western Conference. In 2008, he won a gold medal as a member of the 2008 Summer Olympics U.S. Men's Basketball Team, occasionally referred to as "The Redeem Team," a play on the name of the first Olympic team that featured NBA players, the Dream Team. Since his second year in the league, Bryant has started in every NBA All-Star Game that has been hosted, including winning the All-Star MVP award in 2002, 2007, and 2009. Although known by several names throughout his career, Bryant's current nickname is 'Black Mamba'.

Source: Wikipedia

Kaká the game's highest-paid

World Player of Year makes $15M

World Player of the Year front-runner Cristiano Ronaldo might be setting Europe alight this season, but he only ranks eighth in a list of the world's most lavishly paid players.

A photocopied list of the top 50 earners compiled by FutebolFinance.com allows for some interesting wage comparisons.

AC Milan's Kaká tops the pile -- raking in $286,876 per week, or just less than $15 million a year -- with second-place Barcelona ace Ronaldinho making similar money.

As one would expect, big-spending Chelsea's presence in the top 10 hints at its astronomical wage bill. Frank Lampard and John Terry are third and fourth, with Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack also in the top seven.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres is sandwiched between his Blues rivals in fifth place, while Barça's Thierry Henry and Reds skipper Steven Gerrard complete the top 10.

Perhaps the biggest surprise, then, is 36-goal Manchester United winger Ronaldo, who earns $40,000 less than Kaká -- $244,800 per week. However, an oft-proposed move to Spain's La Liga would surely put his earnings into the stratosphere.

There are a few surprising names on the list. Portsmouth's Sol Campbell earns more than $210,000 a week in 15th, while Tottenham's Darren Bent's salary is put at $189,338 and Liverpool's injury-plagued midfielder Harry Kewell ranks 39th.

England cap centurion David Beckham, meanwhile, is at $142,000 per week with the Los Angeles Galaxy. However, his position in 44th is slightly misleading, as his MLS contract is structured in such a way that he also earns a percentage of ticket and jersey sales.

Still, it's quite a drop form the reported $240,000 per week he received during his spell at Real Madrid.

The Top Ten

1. Kaká (AC Milan): $14.9 million per year
2. Ronaldinho (FC Barcelona): $14.1 million
3. Frank Lampard (Chelsea): $13.5 million
4. John Terry (Chelsea): $13.5 million
5. Fernando Torres (Liverpool): $13.1 million
6. Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea): $12.9 million
7. Michael Ballack (Chelsea): $12.9 million
8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United): $12.7 million
9. Thierry Henry (FC Barcelona): $12.7 million
10. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool): $12.7 million

Other notable mentions include Michael Owen (Newcastle United), 14th with $11.1 million; Robinho (Real Madrid), 23rd with $9.2 million; Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan) 29th with $8.3 million; Samuel Eto'o (FC Barcelona) 32nd with $8.3 million; Beckham (L.A. Galaxy), 44th at $7.5 million. Meanwhile, there are no Arsenal players on the list.

Source: SI.com (Sports Illustrated)

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