Along with LeBron James, he was one of the first two gamers to publicly named to the 2006–2008 U.S. preliminary roster in 2006 by Jerry Colangelo. However, he was once again sidelined after knee surgical procedure and did not participate within the 2006 FIBA World Championship. The 1998–99 season marked Bryant's emergence as a premier guard within the league. With starting guards Van Exel and Jones traded, Bryant started each recreation for the lockout-shortened 50-game season. During the season, Bryant signed a 6-year contract extension value $70 million. This kept him with the Lakers till the top of the 2003–04 season.

"Not unhealthy for the seventh-best player within the league", said Bryant, referring to a preseason ESPN rating of the NBA's high players. It was the sixth time in his career he scored forty or more factors in 4 straight games, a feat exceeded solely by Chamberlain . At the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, Bryant scored 27 points to cross Jordan as the profession scoring leader within the All-Star Game. He sat out the season finale in opposition to Sacramento, foregoing the chase for a potential third NBA scoring title, having needed 38 points to surpass Kevin Durant. The Lakers had been knocked out of the playoffs by Durant and Oklahoma City in the second spherical of the playoffs, losing in 5 games in what can be Bryant's ultimate playoff appearance. The highway to the Finals would prove lots tougher than the document run the Lakers had loved the previous 12 months.

In addition to future animation tasks, he had been in talks with animator veteran Bruce Smith for the final six months earlier than his dying about beginning his personal 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", although Bryant's name was not listed on the credit.

Parents may watch the video with their children, and their youngsters would watch with their kids, and so forth. Bryant is the second-highest-paid NBA player ever, with $323 million in career wage. He trails only Kevin Garnett, however LeBron James is catching up quickly. Both were named for Bryant, who -- for now -- is the one participant named Kobe to make it to the NBA.

Li confirmed that the settlement was for $28.85 million. That includes the $15 million that a jury in a federal courtroom awarded to Vanessa Bryant in August within the case after finding that firefighters and deputies violated her privacy and triggered her emotional misery. "Today marks the profitable culmination of Mrs. Bryant's courageous battle to carry accountable those that engaged on this grotesque conduct," said Luis Li, lawyer for Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant's spouse. "She fought for her husband, her daughter, and all those locally whose deceased household were treated with comparable disrespect."

January 26, 2023, is the third anniversary of the death of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others who perished in a helicopter crash in California. NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant was introduced Thursday as the quilt athlete for NBA 2K24. It's the fourth time Bryant might be on the cover of NBA 2K.

Although later seasons had been marred by injuries, he surpassed Michael Jordan for third place on the NBA all-time scoring listing in December 2014 and retired in 2016 after scoring 60 points in his last game. In 2018, Bryant earned an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball. On January 26, 2020, he was in a helicopter crash that killed Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gigi and seven others. As of June 2012, Bryant ranks third and fifth on the league's all-time post-season scoring and all-time regular season scoring lists, respectively. He is also the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise historical past.

Kobe Bean Bryant(August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American skilled basketball participant. In 2008 and again in 2016, ESPN ranked him the second-greatest taking pictures guard of all time after Jordan. In 2022, to commemorate the NBA's 75th Anniversary The Athletic ranked their high 75 gamers of all time, and named Bryant as the tenth biggest player in NBA historical past, the second highest shooting guard on the listing, behind only Jordan. Players together with Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, and Derrick Rose called Bryant their era's version of Jordan. The Press-Enterprise described Bryant as "perhaps the greatest Laker within the organization's historical past".