Kobe Bryant’s Philadelphia years revisited in CNN documentary five years after his death
Philadelphia ‘helped shape who he became, as a player and as a man.’
Eric Johnson remembers exactly where he was on Jan. 26, 2020, when he got the news of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna’s death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif.
Johnson was then a producer on Good Morning America. Word came through that a helicopter had crashed, and Johnson’s boss said to keep an eye on it, thinking that a crash in that part of California might involve someone well-known.
“And then, a few minutes later — because she knew how big a basketball fan I was — she pulled me over and just told me,” he said. “In the news, you’re kind of looking at it differently. But it was really shocking, and it was terrible.” Now Johnson, as executive producer for CNN Original Series, is also the executive producer of Kobe: The Making of a Legend, a three-part docuseries that debuts Jan. 25 on CNN. It will continue through the next two Saturdays at 9 p.m. The debut is timed to the fifth anniversary of Bryant’s death.
Kobe Bryant was born in Philadelphia in 1978, the son of Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, himself an NBA player who was with the Sixers when Kobe was born. Bryant spent many years of his childhood in Italy while his father played with Italian teams, but returned home in 8th grade. He soon emerged as a star player at Lower Merion High School and at age 17, jumped directly from high school in 1996 to the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, where he would play his entire 20-year NBA career.
The first part of the CNN documentary mostly covers Bryant’s Italy and Philadelphia years.
“We went to Philly a bunch,” Johnson said of the production. “We were fortunately able to shoot at Lower Merion, and we talked to some former teammates of his that were also in the area.”
Philadelphia, Johnson said, “really helped shape who he became, as a player and as a man.”
Johnson, a native of South Plainfield, N.J., and a graduate of the College of New Jersey grew up with parents from West Philadelphia. He remembers his father talking about the basketball exploits of Joe Bryant. At the time of our interview, Johnson was gearing up to attend the Eagles’ playoff game on Sunday with his father and brother.
“Something we tried to touch on was this transition of Kobe living in Europe, a completely different life,” Johnson said. “As the only Black family thriving in Europe, then to come back to Philly, where he was entering back into the States at a time when basketball, as a national sport, was becoming something beyond just a sport — it was becoming this place of high-end streetwear, and hip-hop meets basketball meets celebrities meets shoes.”
The series talks about one high school game when Bryant was ill and his opponents expected him to possibly not play. Not only did he play but he scored more than 40 points, in a high school version of Michael Jordan’s 1997 famous flu game.
“In Philadelphia, there was, and continues to be, such a big street basketball presence … And Kobe’s trying to navigate this space, which has a lot of respect for basketball, but he’s still seen as the guy who goes to the school that’s a little off the beaten path, and he has to prove himself.”
Kobe: The Making of a Legend also delves a bit into Bryant’s sometimes complex relationship with Philadelphia; seen by some in Philly as a suburban player detached from the city’s basketball tradition, especially during the Lakers’ 2001 NBA Finals series against the Sixers, as a hated opponent.
The year after that series, Bryant was booed by a Philly crowd at the NBA All-Star Game, and acknowledged at the time that “My feelings are hurt being from Philadelphia.” The same year, Bryant appeared on the cover of Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly” issue wearing his father’s old Sixers jersey.
The series moves on to Bryant’s Lakers career and the three championships he won between 2000 and 2002, as well as Bryant’s marriage to his wife Vanessa when he was 24.
The bulk of the second installment is taken up by Bryant’s arrest for sexual assault in Colorado in 2003, and the subsequent legal proceedings.
“There was a Kobe before that happened and a Kobe after,” Johnson said. “I think it’s an important thing for the public to dig into some of the nuances and some of these harder questions when somebody that you revere, that you love, who you’ve mourned, and you have to look at some of their flaws.”
Also covered in the latter part of the series is Bryant’s estrangement from his family and the years between the end of his playing career and his passing, which included his producing an Oscar-winning animated short film, Dear Basketball, as well as the story of his death.
Among interviewees in the series are high school teammates Guy Stewart and Robby Schwartz, his high school teacher Jeanne Mastriano, his fellow former NBA star Tracy McGrady, WNBA Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes, and former Villanova star (and current New York Knick) Jalen Brunson.
While there are glimpses of Bryant’s games at Lower Merion High School, the series does not feature any NBA game footage.
“It’s a basketball story, of course, because he’s a basketball player … but for what we did, we wanted to focus on a childhood, that was in a place that not many people have had access to … and we wanted to dig into Philadelphia, we wanted to dig into his parents, his family, and what his life was like off the court, and how it informed what he did on the court.”
Disclosure: Inquirer sports columnist Michael Sielski appears as a commentator in “Kobe: The Making of a Legend.” He was not involved in this story.