During the season, Bryant signed a six-year contract extension price $70 million. The all-time main scorer in Lakers historical past, Bryant was the primary guard in NBA history to play 20 seasons. His 18 All-Star designations are the second most all time, and he has the second most consecutive appearances as a starter.

The Lakers have been eliminated from the playoffs within the Western Conference Semifinals as they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs. Dennis Rodman says Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal did not like him throughout his time with the Lakers and needed him out of the team. However, Durant ultimately developed his sport and became one of the lethal scorers in NBA history and Bryant couldn’t work out a method to slow him down. Bryant was picked 13th general in the identical draft, whereas Iverson was chosen first overall by Kobe's hometown Sixers.

In addition to future animation tasks, he had been in talks with animator veteran Bruce Smith for the last six months earlier than his demise about starting his own animation studio. He carried out at a 1997 live performance by Sway & King Tech and recorded a verse for a remix of Brian McKnight's "Hold Me". Bryant even appeared on Lakers teammate O'Neal's Respect, starting the track "3 X's Dope", though Bryant's name was not listed on the credit.

But when I received in the sport, Kobe Bryant was that bar for all of us and make no mistake about it we were making an attempt to make him proud. We by no means most likely spoke it, mentioned it to the media, or mentioned it to him, however deep down inside, that’s what we were trying to do. And I think he knew, as a result of the way that we competed versus one another. That's what made Kobe alive, when he felt the respect from a aggressive standpoint, extra so than the words.

It was featured on his debut studio album, Finally Rich, as a half of the deluxe edition. For the NBA 2K21 soundtrack, Damian Lillard, underneath his stage name Dame D.O.L.L.A., released a tribute track also titled "Kobe," that includes Snoop Dogg and Derrick Milano. In 2011, Bryant was featured in Taiwanese singer Jay Chou's single "The Heaven and Earth Challenge" (天地一鬥, pronounced "Tian Di Yi Dou"). Not to be confused with the American soccer player Coby Bryant.

The Sony president who originally signed Bryant had already left, and Bryant's different backers had mostly abandoned him. Afterwards, Bryant co-founded an impartial record label, Heads High Entertainment, but it folded within a 12 months. In 2013, Bryant had a legal disagreement with an auction home over memorabilia from his early years that his mother had put up for public sale. Bryant's mother obtained $450,000 from the public sale house for the items, and contended Bryant had given her the rights to the objects he had remaining in her residence. However, Bryant's lawyers asked the public sale house to return the objects.Before the scheduled trial, a settlement was reached permitting the public sale home the sale of lower than 10% of the objects. Bryant's mother and father apologized to him for the misunderstanding in a written assertion, and appreciated the financial assist he had given them through the years.

I knew that when my basketball profession was over, I’d be trying to begin a enterprise and new career. I began to see the eagerness and dedication from entrepreneurs. I related to it as a outcome of it’s how I approached the game daily.

In the fourth quarter, as Bryant made shot after shot towards the Utah Jazz, on his approach to 60 factors, the sector was crammed with a steady, deafening cheer. Bryant picked up a microphone afterward to address the group. Flying again to L.A., he called a information convention at Staples Center and, with tears in his eyes and voice quavering, acknowledged having sex with the girl however insisted it was consensual. Bryant took refuge in his relationship with Vanessa, as bodyguards accompanied them to Disneyland and obtained them seats at the native Cineplex after the lights went down. The couple bought a home within the Newport Beach community of Newport Coast, the place they installed his “Star Wars” memorabilia and her Disney collectibles.