From Nick Tylwalk,
Your Guide to Sports Cards.
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How often does a basketball player skip college, get traded before he plays a single game for the team that drafted him and still end up as one of the best players in the NBA? Only once - and that player's name is Kobe Bryant.

Though he was selected by the then-Charlotte Hornets in 1996, Bryant has played his entire career for the Los Angeles Lakers. He is quite simply one of the most gifted scorers in recent history, able to hurt opponents by driving or pulling up in a way that reminds some of Michael Jordan.

He also has multiple NBA championship rings and a fierce competitive fire like Jordan, but the comparisons end when it comes to how he's perceived by collectors. Whether it was his feud with fellow superstar Shaquille O'Neal or his legal trouble in Colorado, events keep happening that divide opinion on Kobe and keep him from ascending to the hobby plateau that his talent suggests he should occupy.

Be that as it may, Bryant has plenty of people collecting his basketball cards, making his long relationship with Upper Deck pay off for the company many times over. His rookie cards are readily available and affordable, with only his Topps Chrome # 138 (also a favorite of counterfeiters) fetching triple digit prices on a regular basis.

And if Kobe ever wins over more of his detractors - say, by winning a few title without Shaq - the sky's the limit.

Kobe Bryant 1996-97 Rookie Cards

• Bowman's Best # R23
• Collector's Choice # 267
• E-X2000 # 30
• Finest # 74
• Flair Showcase Row 2 # 31
• Fleer # 203
• Hoops # 281
• Metal # 137
• SkyBox Premium # 155
• SP # 134
• Topps # 138
• Topps Chrome # 138
• UD3 # 19
• Ultra # 52
• Upper Deck # 58
• Z-Force # 142