Showboat ─ The Life of Kobe Bryant, Includes PDF of Photos

Seventeen-time all-star; scorer of 81 points in a game; MVP and a shooting guard second only to Jordan in league history: Kobe Bryant is one of basketball's absolute greatest players, a fascinating and complicated character who knew when he was a mere boy that he would be better than Jordan on the court.

The debate about whether he achieved that is a furious one--but Kobe has surpassed Jordan on the all-time scoring list and has only one less championship than Jordan (5 to Jordan's 6). He is set to retire after the 2015/16 season, just in time for Roland Lazenby's definitive biography of the player and the man.

The Lakers are the flashiest team in all of sports, and the context in which Bryant played is salacious and exciting. Provocative stories mixed with good old fashioned basketball reporting make for a riveting and essential read for any hoops fan.

Roland Lazenby is the author of the definitive and bestselling biographies Michael Jordan: The Life and Jerry West: The Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon, among other books. He has spent the past three decades interviewing NBA players, coaches, staff members, and other figures while writing about the league. He lives in Salem, VA.