THIS IS FROM WIKIPEDIA
Kobe Bean Bryant[1] (born August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American All-Star shooting guard who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. Bryant is the only son of former Philadelphia 76ers player and former Los Angeles Sparks head coach Joe “Jellybean” Bryant. His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu.[2]

Bryant rose to national prominence in 1996 when he became the first guard in league history to be drafted out of high school. Bryant and then-teammate Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. Since O’Neal’s departure following the 2003-04 season, Bryant has become the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise, and was the NBA’s leading scorer 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 NBA history.[3] He was awarded the season’s MVP in 2008.[4]

In 2003, Bryant made headlines when he was accused of sexual assault at a ski resort in Eagle, Colorado. In September 2004, the judge dismissed all charges on Bryant after the accuser declined to testify. A separate civil suit brought by the accuser was ultimately settled out of court.LeBron Raymond James (born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Commonly nicknamed “King James” and “The Chosen One”, the Akron, Ohio-born James was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA star while still in high school, and was named Ohio’s “Mr. Basketball” three times. At the age of 18, he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cavaliers and signed an unprecedented US$90 million shoe contract with Nike before his NBA debut. He has since set numerous youngest player records. In his first season, he received the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and in the following four seasons received All-NBA and All-Star honors. He has led the Cavaliers to consecutive playoff appearances in 2006, 2007, and 2008; in 2007, the team advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1992 and the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

James is listed as a small forward, but can also play point guard and shooting guard. This versatility has led to his classification as a “point forward.” James was a member of the United States men’s national basketball team that won the bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and he finished second in the league Most Valuable Player balloting in 2006.