Sports
Joe 'Jellybean' Bryant, father of late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, dies
Joe Bryant, a former NBA player and WNBA coach with a colorful nickname, has died at 69, four and a half years after his son, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, granddaughter Gianna Bryant and seven other people died in a helicopter crash.
Fran Dunphy, the coach at Joe Bryant’s alma mater La Salle, told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday that Bryant recently suffered a debilitating stroke.
A teammate at John Bartram High School in Philadelphia nicknamed Bryant “Jellybean” because he had a vast array of moves despite being 6 feet 9. “Must be jelly because jam don’t shake like that,” Bryant recalled hearing, quoting the World War II-era hit song by Glenn Miller.
The nickname stuck and Bryant became a star. He was the High School Public League Player of the Year in 1972, then remained in Philadelphia to attend La Salle, averaging 20.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game during his two seasons.
Paul Westhead, the La Salle coach at the time, seconded all of Jellybean’s motions.
“He had a lot of moves,” Westhead said. “He’d cut you up any which way.”
Bryant was the 14th overall pick in the 1975 NBA draft, going to the Golden State Warriors, who sold his rights to his hometown Philadelphia 76ers shortly before the 1975-76 season began. Perhaps Bryant’s most memorable moment as a player came in his first game with the Clippers when he dunked over Lakers 7-foot-2 center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Also in 1975, the 20-year-old Bryant married Pam Cox, sister of former NBA player Chubby Cox, and they had two daughters, Sharia and Shaya, in addition to their son, Kobe.
Bryant was a key contributor off the bench for four years in Philadelphia, playing behind future Hall of Famers and fellow forwards George McGinnis and Julius Erving. The 76ers made the playoffs in each of Bryant’s seasons, losing in the NBA Finals to the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977.
The 76ers traded Bryant to the San Diego Clippers ahead of the 1979-80 season for a future first-round draft pick and his playing time nearly doubled. He averaged 11 points and 5.5 rebounds in three seasons with the Clippers before averaging 10 points with the Houston Rockets in his last NBA season.
“Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant was a local basketball icon, whose legacy on the court transcended his journey across Bartram High School, La Salle University, and his first four NBA seasons with the 76ers from 1975-79,” the Sixers said in a statement. “Our condolences go out to the Bryant family.”
Bryant then embarked on a nomadic career overseas as a player and a coach. He played through 1992 in Italy and France, not returning to Philadelphia until Kobe was about to begin high school. Bryant served as head coach of the girls’ team at Akiba Hebrew Academy in 1992-93 before moving to La Salle as an assistant for the duration of Kobe’s career at Lower Merion High.
“We are saddened to announce the passing of La Salle basketball great Joe Bryant,” the school said in a news release. “Joe played for the Explorers from 1973-75 and was a member of our coaching staff from 1993-96. He was a beloved member of the Explorer family and will be dearly missed.”
Shortly after finishing high school, Kobe was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets and immediately traded to the Lakers in 1996.
Joe and Pam Bryant moved to Los Angeles with their 17-year-old son and had to co-sign his first Lakers contract, a $3.5-million deal over three years, because Kobe was too young to sign for himself.
The Lakers rookie used some of his newfound wealth to buy cars for Joe, Pam, Sharia and Shaya, all of whom lived with him in Pacific Palisades for three years until Joe and Pam purchased a house less than a mile away.
“We weren’t just going to let him come out here by himself,” Joe told Times columnist Bill Plaschke early in 2003.
“My family was always there for me,” Kobe said around that time. “I love them for that.”
Their relationship remained strong until Kobe courted and eventually married Orange County teenager Vanessa Laine in 2001.
“It’s right there in the Bible,” Kobe said. “When you get married, your mother and father and sisters are no longer the priority.”
His parents did not come to Kobe and Vanessa’s wedding or visit their new home. When Lower Merion High retired Bryant’s jersey in 2002, Joe and Pam sat in one section of the stands, Vanessa in another.
Why the tension? Kobe said his father — who had been younger than Kobe when he married Pam at age 20 — felt uneasy about his devotion to Vanessa and did not like that she was Latina. Joe said: “Once he decided to get married, it’s his life now.”
Bryant jumped back into coaching in 2003, spending one year each with the Las Vegas Rattlers and the Boston Frenzy of the American Basketball Assn. He moved to the WNBA and became head coach of the Sparks for two seasons, leading L.A. to a 25–9 record and a conference finals berth in 2006. A year later, he was replaced by former Lakers star Michael Cooper.
“I’m devastated to hear about the loss of my friend Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, the father of Kobe Bryant,” Magic Johnson wrote on X. “Joe was not only a talented basketball player; he was also a great coach.
“Joe was an exceptional human being with a radiant smile that had the power to brighten any room, and a great husband and father. Cookie and I are praying for his wife Pam, daughters Sharia and Shaya, and the rest of the Bryant family, friends, and all those who loved Joe.”
From 2007 to 2015, Bryant coached a handful of teams in Japan, Italy and Southeast Asia. As recently as 2013, Bryant was working out regularly at the full-length basketball court on the second floor of the L.A. apartment building where he and Pam lived.
His workout? He’d make 120 shots, 60 on each end — 20 from the left side, 20 from the right, 20 down the middle — proving to himself that “Jellybean” still had the moves at age 60.
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The 2026 NBA Draft finally saw the top college prospects get chosen along with some friendly fire among ESPN and basketball analysts on Tuesday night.
Jay Williams, Richard Jefferson and Kenny Smith were among those covering the draft and offering their analysis during the event. One exchange among the three former NBA players went awry and led to an awkward moment.
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Jay Williams of the Chicago Bulls and Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs share a laugh during the 2003 got milk? Rookie Challenge Game at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Feb. 8, 2003. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE)
ESPN recalled the moments each former player was drafted. Smith went No. 6 overall in 1987 to the Sacramento Kings, Richard Jefferson was selected at No. 13 by the Houston Rockets before being traded to the New Jersey Nets in 2001 and Williams was chosen No. 2 overall by the Chicago Bulls in 2001. Williams’ career was cut short due to a motorcycle crash.
ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi asked why Williams received a big ovation. Williams explained that most people who had gone to Duke were from the New York or New Jersey area.
“They also didn’t see the future coming, so they were cheering,” Jefferson said.
Williams responded, “Wow.”
TNT basketball analyst Kenny Smith appears on air before the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the North Carolina State Wolfpack at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on April 6, 2024. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Smith admitted that Williams was an “unbelievable talent” but “his career trajectory would’ve been a lot different if he didn’t like motorcycles.”
Williams tried to brush it off, saying all of what Smith was saying was “on record” and that he “wrote a book about it.”
“I guess everybody that goes to Duke isn’t that smart,” Jefferson quipped. “What? He wrote a book about it. I’m agreeing with him.”
The awkwardness filled the air after that as the Toronto Raptors were getting ready to make a selection.
Williams’ incident occurred in June 2003. He suffered a fractured pelvis, three torn ligaments in his knee and he severed a nerve in his leg. Williams violated the terms of his contract by riding the motorcycle in the first place.
Referee Richard Jefferson watches the game between the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers during the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev., on July 11, 2022. (Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
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He tried to make his way back into the NBA through the G League but never got there. He played 75 games for the Bulls in his rookie season and averaged 9.5 points per game.
Major League Baseball says it has no concerns about Dodgers and Rams head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache working with players.
ElAttrache was questioned by MLB on June 12 following a detailed report by the New York Times that the renowned surgeon and sports medicine expert supported the therapeutic use of performance-enhancing drugs by UFC star Conor McGregor.
“MLB took our responsibility to conduct due diligence in this matter seriously. We interviewed Dr. Neal ElAttrache last week, covering multiple topics, and he answered our questions thoroughly,” MLB said in a statement obtained by The Times Tuesday night.
“Based on our interview, the review of relevant records, Dr. ElAttrache’s long history of support for and cooperation with the Joint Drug Program and the fact that no Therapeutic Use Exemption requests of this nature have been submitted by Dr. ElAttrache or anyone else, we do not have any concerns regarding Dr. ElAttrache’s treatment of MLB players, or his adherence to the Joint Drug Programs and related rules.
“We consider this matter closed.”
ElAttrache performed surgery on McGregor in July 2021, inserting a rod, plates and screws into his left leg after the fighter broke his tibia and fibula during a mixed martial arts bout against Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas.
McGregor’s recovery was lengthy and arduous. ElAttrache told the New York Times that while he did not prescribe steroids for McGregor, he referred him to a specialist who did. Furthermore, ElAttrache wrote a letter supporting McGregor’s request for a therapeutic use exemption from UFC drug policies.
“I felt it would be appropriate to consult other physicians with expertise in bone healing/bone metabolism,” ElAttrache told the New York Times via text. “I recommended the consultations but not the course of treatment.”
ElAttrache said he told McGregor to check with UFC drug testers about prescriptions the consultant gave him. “I purposely wasn’t involved with his evaluation by the consultant nor with prescribing medication,” ElAttrache said.
The exemption request was denied by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the drug testing organization the UFC used at the time, triggering a split between the two organizations. McGregor withdrew from the UFC anti-doping program shortly thereafter and no longer was required to undergo testing for banned substances.
The report prompted MLB to talk with ElAttrache about his approach to treating players.
ElAttrache, operating primarily out of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, has performed elbow or shoulder surgeries on prominent Dodgers past and present, including Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Walker Buehler as well as former Rams stars Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers.
Among the hundreds of surgeries performed over three decades by ElAttrache, his patients include the four 2024 MLB most valuable player and Cy Young Award winners — Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal. ElAttrache’s patients include 18 of 29 players who won the MVP or Cy Young awards over the past 10 years.
“I have spoken with MLB and I am very comfortable with the process that the league and I will complete to assure the public that I have followed every rule and regulation in my medical treatment of athletes without exception,” ElAttrache said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times earlier this month. “My record is completely clean, including in this case.”
Times staff writers Steve Henson, Bill Shaikin, Sam Farmer and Gary Klein contributed to this report.
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As expected, the Washington Wizards have begun the 2026 NBA Draft by selecting BYU’s AJ Dybantsa with the first overall pick.
In a draft class loaded with “cant-miss prospects,” Dybantsa stood out above the rest, as the 6-foot-9, 217-pound forward put on a show with the Cougars in his one and only collegiate season.
Dybantsa averaged 25.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 51% from the field for BYU. He became the fifth Division-1 player in the last 40 seasons to average at least 25 points while shooting 50% from the field in a single season.
This is a breaking news story. More to come…
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