Where did basketball originate?
History of basketball
After his final championship and second retirement in 1998, there was a void as in who would be the face of basketball.  Soon after with the help of Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant would go on to win three straight championships from 2000–2002 with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping make basketball more popular in many places around the world, most noticeably China. Further championships in 2009 and 2010 helped raise his popularity.[33] In 2015, he announced the following season would be his last. He would have played in 20 seasons by then.[34]