Interesting Kobe Bryant Career Facts You Might Not Know [VIDEO]

Kobe Bryant is preparing for an emotional game coming up tonight!  Kobe will be playing his last game in the NBA and normally that would be the sports headline of the night.

But it's happening on the same night as the Golden State Warriors are making a run at setting NBA history, by winning their 73rd game of the regular season.  Golden State has a chance at beating the amazing record of 72 wins-10 losses in a season set by the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls.

ESPN is even disrespecting Kobe's last game in the NBA as they have relegated it over to ESPN2.

We know that Kobe has had some bumps along his historic career and thought you might enjoy learning some interesting facts about his play on the court.

His full name is Kobe Bean Bryant. He was named after the famous Japanese Kobe beef. Story is that his parents saw it on a menu and love the name. The middle name Bean was a shortened form of his father's nickname 'Jellybean.'

Kobe is 37, and has played 20 seasons in the NBA, all of them with the Los Angles Lakers. No one else has played that many seasons with the same team. He's also won five championships, and was named MVP of the finals twice.

He's an 18-time all-star, including his last 16 seasons, which is a pretty incredible statistic. He was named the All-Star MVP four times, which is a record, although he's tied with legend Bob Pettit.

Kobe is the only player in NBA history with 30,000 points, 6,000 assists, and 6,000 rebounds.

He's tied for the record for most three-pointers made in a game. He hit 12 of them in one game back in 2003. He shares that record with Donyell Marshall and Stephen Curry.

He holds the record for most field goals missed in a game with 30. Kobe still scored 41 points, along with nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. The Lakers lost in overtime to the Celtics in that game.

He's the youngest player to start an NBA game, at 18 years and 158 days.

He's the third-highest scorer in NBA history, with over 33,500 points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone are #1 and #2. Michael Jordan is fourth. By the way, his first words to Jordan back in the '90s were, quote, "You know I can kick your [butt] one-on-one."

Kobe tried to launch a side-gig as a rapper in 1998, like a lot of players. His debut album was going to be named "Visions", but it never got released. The first single was called "K.O.B.E.", featured Tyra Banks, and was a flop.

He was the first guard to be drafted directly out of high school. The Charlotte Hornets took Kobe as the 13th pick in 1996 NBA Draft. But in a pre-arranged deal, they traded him to the Lakers for center Vlade Divac.

Source: ESPN