科比的新秀赛季，他大部分时间作为埃迪·琼斯和尼克·范·埃克塞尔的替补登场。
Kobe's rookie season, he most of the time as Eddie Jones and Nick van Exel on the bench.
当时他成为NBA历史上最年轻的出场球员（该纪录后来被队友安德鲁·拜纳姆打破），同时他还是NBA历史上最年轻的首发球员。
At that time, he became the youngest player in NBA history (the record was later broken by teammate Andrew Bynum), and he was also the youngest starter in NBA history.
第一个赛季，科比场均可以得到15.5分钟的上场时间。
In his first season, Kobe averaged 15.5 minutes per game.
在1997年NBA全明星周末，科比赢得了扣篮大赛的冠军，18岁的科比也成为了NBA史上最年轻的扣篮大赛冠军。
In the 1997 NBA all star weekend, Kobe won the slam dunk championship. At the age of 18, Kobe became the youngest slam dunk champion in NBA history.
凭借整个赛季的表现科比和同样是替补的队友特拉维斯·奈特一同入选了NBA最佳新秀阵容第二阵容，并且成为最年轻入选最佳新秀阵容的球员。
With the performance of the whole season, Kobe and his substitute teammate Travis Knight were selected into the second team of NBA rookie of the year, and became the youngest player to be selected into the rookie of the year.