He returned three games before the tip of the regular season. In the final game of the common season, against Sacramento, he chose to not go for a possible third NBA scoring title, having wanted 38 factors to surpass Kevin Durant. The Lakers had been knocked out of the playoffs by Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder in the second spherical of the playoffs, dropping in 5 games. During the 2009–10 season, Bryant made six game-winning photographs including a buzzer-beating, one-legged 3-pointer towards the Miami Heat on December four, 2009.

On April 2, 2010, Bryant signed a three-year contract extension price $87 million. Bryant completed the regular season lacking four of the ultimate five video games, due to accidents to his knee and finger. Bryant suffered a number of accidents throughout the season and consequently, missed nine video games. The Lakers began the playoffs as the primary seed in the Western Conference towards the Oklahoma City Thunder, eventually defeating them in six games.

In 2018, Bryant grew to become the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and the primary former skilled athlete to be nominated and to win an Academy Award in any category for his filmDear Basketball. On August 22, 2016, Bryant and his enterprise partner Jeff Stibel launched Bryant-Stibel, a enterprise capital agency targeted on totally different companies including media, knowledge, gaming, and technology, with $100 million in funding. 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").

His debut album, Visions, was scheduled to release within the spring of 2000. The first single, "K.O.B.E'", featured supermodel Tyra Banks singing the hook. The single debuted in January 2000, and was performed at NBA All-Star Weekend that month; the track was not well acquired. Sony deserted plans for the album, which was never released, and dropped Bryant later that yr.

However, it was not for something basketball related, quite it was about Bryant being a big fan of FC Barcelona. CNN estimated Bryant's endorsement deals in 2007 to be worth $16 million a 12 months. In 2010, Bryant was ranked third behind Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan in Forbes‍ '​ record of the world's highest-paid athletes with $48 million. He stated his faith and a priest helped him through difficult times, such as the interval following his accusation of rape. A Catholic cantor mentioned she was impressed by Bryant's faith, and the respect that he showed her.

When Bryant was thirteen, he and his family moved again to Philadelphia, where he enrolled in eighth grade at Bala Cynwyd Middle School. Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, died in a helicopter crash three years in the past today. The two had been flying with seven others—John and Keri Altobelli and their daughter Alyssa; Sarah Chester and her daughter, Payton; Christina Mauser; and pilot Ara Zobayan—to a youth basketball event near Los Angeles. Bryant has become the fashionable avatar of winning to a era of basketball fans and athletes too young to recollect Michael Jordan. Championships, Olympic gold medals, Oscars, it didn’t matter. But perhaps Bryant’s most mythological second came in how he responded to a probably career-altering harm.

The playoff outcomes, nonetheless, were no better, as the Lakers have been swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals. Fitting in is a challenge that I’ve never been in a place to grasp. I was a tall, skinny 13-year-old child who spoke Italian higher than English. I knew little or no of American tradition and folks knew me only as “the son of a former NBA player.” During this time, the game of basketball became more than only a refuge, it became my outlet. Basketball became the place where I might channel my frustrations about being completely different — the place I may scream from the highest of the mountain and permit myself to be heard. I realized every little thing in regards to the sport, the historical past, the gamers, the basics.

Bryant’s encore efficiency came in 2009 and once more in 2010 when the Lakers went back-to-back. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, which ranks second behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's and LeBron James’ 19. He was chosen a then-record 18 straight occasions, each time as a starter.