The presence of Kobe Bryant will forever loom tall in the annals of American basketball. While some describe it as a game, a business, a series of coupled industries, or an American pastime, we argue that basketball serves as a cultural institution. Moreover, this paper positions Kobe Bryant among the standard-bearers of a social institution rather than a game…and argues that Kobe, for fans, admirers, competitors, and the institutional establishment of basketball, he is part of the embodiment of ideals, hopes, aspiration, and goals of a people as they are expressed through American culture. While the formative years of the career of Kobe Bryant may have been fraught with a series of doubts, uncertainties, and indiscretions, he became the embodiment of a cultural identity, an international icon, and a transformational figure both on and off the basketball court. Additionally, by Bryant being memorialized, in the form of formal and informal memorials and the newly renamed, NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP, his legacy transcends the immediacy of a game or the year of a season and lends to the contributions to basketball as a cultural institution and to the American ideal.

科比·布莱恩特的存在将永远铭记在美国篮球的历史上。虽然有人将其描述为一种游戏、一项业务、一系列相关产业或一种美国消遣，但我们认为篮球是一种文化机构。此外，本文将科比·布莱恩特定位为社会制度的旗手，而不是一场比赛……并认为科比，对于球迷、崇拜者、竞争者和篮球的制度建设，他是理想、希望的体现者。通过美国文化表达的人民的愿望和目标。虽然科比·布莱恩特职业生涯的成长岁月可能充满了一系列的怀疑、不确定性和轻率，但他成为了文化身份、国际偶像、以及篮球场内外的变革性人物。此外，通过正式和非正式纪念馆以及新更名的形式纪念布莱恩特，NBA 全明星赛科比·布莱恩特 MVP，他的遗产超越了一场比赛或一个赛季的直接性，并为篮球作为一种文化机构和美国理想做出了贡献。