Joe Bryant

In 1975, Bryant married Pam Cox, sister of former NBA player Chubby Cox. Bryant's son, Kobe, won five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant also has two daughters, Sharia and Shaya. Through his wife Pam, he is the uncle of professional basketball player John Cox IV. His son Kobe and granddaughter Gianna died on January 26, 2020 after a helicopter crash.

In January 2012, he became coach of the Bangkok Cobras in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). He also served as the head coach of Rizing Fukuoka of the bj league.

On July 3, 2009 he signed a contract with his first Italian club, Sebastiani Rieti.

Bryant spent the 2007–08 season coaching the Tokyo Apache in Japan's professional basketball league the Japanese BJ League.

On August 22, 2005, Bryant, who had been serving as the assistant coach to the Los Angeles Sparks team in the Women's National Basketball Association, was named Head Coach of the Sparks, succeeding previous coach (and former 76ers teammate) Henry Bibby. During the 2006 season, he led the Sparks to a 25–9 record and a Conference Finals berth. However, in April 2007, Bryant was replaced as Sparks head coach by Michael Cooper, who had previously helmed the team in 1999–2004.

Bryant's first coaching position after returning from Europe while he served in the U.S. Armed Forces in Italy. In the year of 1992–1993, he served as the head coach of the women's varsity team at Akiba Hebrew Academy in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. In June 1993, he left Akiba and accepted an assistant coach position at his alma-mater, La Salle University. Bryant served as coach for the Diablos in the 2003 Season of SlamBall.

After starring at La Salle University, Bryant, a 6'9" (2.07 m) forward, was drafted in the first round by the Golden State Warriors in 1975. Before the season started, though, he was dealt to his hometown team, the Philadelphia 76ers, with whom he played for four seasons. His 1976–77 Sixers team, featuring NBA all-stars Julius Erving, Doug Collins, and George McGinnis, reached the NBA finals, but eventually lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 4 games to 2. Bryant headed back to the West Coast when he was traded by the 76ers to the San Diego Clippers, for whom he played from 1979 to 1982. In the first game of the 1979–80 season at home in San Diego, Bryant slam dunked on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, however, despite that and a 46-point effort by Bryant's Sixer/Clippers teammate World B. Free (then known as Lloyd Free), the Lakers won the game off a game winning sky hook by Abdul-Jabbar.

Joseph Washington Bryant (born October 19, 1954), nicknamed "Jellybean", is an American former professional basketball player and current coach. He is the father of former Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. Bryant was the head coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks from August 22, 2005 until April 4, 2007 and returned to that position for the remainder of the 2011 WNBA season. Bryant has also coached in Italy, Japan, and Thailand.