Alley-oop

In the long history of basketball, how many have moved as gracefully, astonishingly—even poetically—as Kobe Bryant? His 20-season, highlight reel-heavy Hall of Fame career brought five championships to the Los Angeles Lakers, winning three of them while playing the dazzling yin to his on-court partner Shaquille O’Neal’s powerful yang. But it wasn’t just the alley-oop slam dunks and off-balance buzzer beaters that made us admire Kobe; it was also that wide-open, high-beam smile.