He returned three games before the tip of the common season. In the last sport of the regular season, against Sacramento, he selected to not go for a possible third NBA scoring title, having wanted 38 points to surpass Kevin Durant. The Lakers were knocked out of the playoffs by Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder within the second round of the playoffs, shedding in 5 video games. During the 2009–10 season, Bryant made six game-winning shots together with a buzzer-beating, one-legged 3-pointer against the Miami Heat on December 4, 2009.

"When Bryant returned to the court docket, the healthful younger athlete was gone. In his place was a man who could no longer convincingly portray innocence, and Bryant says he felt free to reveal the darkness that had always lurked inside him. Bryant went on to explain that "Kobe" was tasked with dealing with all his "personal challenges," and "The Black Mamba" handled business on the court. In 2003, Bryant was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman in Colorado. While Bryant didn't mention the case directly, he did spend a great deal of time in the documentary speaking about how shut his family came to breaking apart.

And in this ultimate section of his brilliant, checkered, championship-laden career, the person who once referred to as himself "the Valentino of the NBA" has been operating his mouth like never earlier than. This interview—the final one he gave earlier than his season-ending damage in late January—was no exception. The basketball player received greater than basketball championships. He additionally took house an Oscar in 2018 for Best Animated Short Film. "Dear Basketball" is a five-minute film in which Bryant narrates his retirement announcement letter. In the documentary "Kobe Bryant's Muse," the basketball legend spoke about his early relationship with basketball, which started round age 3.

On November 2, 2012, Bryant scored forty factors with two steals, and he passed Magic Johnson as the Lakers career leader in steals. However, the Lakers lost the sport to the Clippers and began the season 0–3 for the primary time in 34 years and just the fourth time in franchise history. After starting the season 1–4, coach Mike Brown was fired. He was replaced by Mike D'Antoni, who Bryant knew as a toddler when Bryant's father was taking half in in Italy and D'Antoni was additionally a star participant there. On December 18, in a 101–100 win over the Charlotte Bobcats, Bryant scored 30+ factors in his seventh consecutive game, the longest streak ever by an NBA player after turning 34 years old; it was the fourth-longest such streak in his career.

This included main the staff in assists per recreation and steals per recreation. The duo of O'Neal and Bryant backed with a strong bench led to the Lakers winning sixty seven video games, tied for fifth-most in NBA history. This followed with O'Neal successful the MVP and Bryant being named to the All-NBA Team Second Team and All-NBA Defensive Team for the first time in his profession . While playing second fiddle to O'Neal in the playoffs, Bryant had some clutch performances including a 25-point, eleven rebound, 7 help, 4 block game in sport 7 of the Western Conference finals towards the Portland Trail Blazers.

The 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee was additionally an 18-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA honoree, a 12-time All-Defensive honoree, a four-time All-Star Game MVP, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, and a two-time scoring champion and one-time MVP. He finished his career with 33,643 factors, which ranks fourth in NBA history. Bryant's association with the NBA 2K online game collection dates again to his first look on the duvet of NBA 2K10. Since then, he has been featured multiple instances, including because the particular edition athlete cowl for NBA 2K17.

Dennis Rodman says Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal did not like him during his time with the Lakers and wanted him out of the staff. However, Durant ultimately developed his game and have become some of the lethal scorers in NBA historical past and Bryant couldn’t work out a formula to gradual him down. Bryant was picked 13th overall in the identical draft, whereas Iverson was selected first general by Kobe's hometown Sixers. Not that he was jealous of AI, however Bryant was a participant who never wished anyone to get the higher of him. As his last season drew to a close, followers merely wanted a final chance to see him. Tabloids speculated in regards to the Bryants seeking a divorce, which they denied.

For displaying us that there’s no such factor as magic but solely hard work. Thank you for making us smile, snicker, yell, cry, jump out of our seats, and chew on our jerseys. Thank you for playing the game the way in which it was meant to be performed. Thank you for instructing us to believe in ourselves even if no person else does. The explanation for the crash is still unknown, as the helicopter was not geared up with a black box.