Kobe Bryant became one of the greatest players in basketball, a transcendent star who went straight from high school to the game's biggest stage and brought "Showtime" back to the Los Angeles Lakers for two glittering decades. But Bryant, who was killed in a helicopter crash in Southern California on Sunday at the age of 41, was not initially rated by National Basketball Association (NBA) scouts as a can't-miss prospect. After deciding to skip college and go straight to the NBA, at the time an unusual career path, he was not taken until the 13th pick in the 1996 draft, by the Charlotte Hornets, who immediately traded him to the Lakers in a pre-arranged deal.