During the season, Bryant signed a 6-year contract extension worth $70 million. This stored him with the Lakers until the top of the 2003–04 season. Even at an early stage of his profession, sportswriters were evaluating his abilities to those of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.

For displaying us that there’s no such factor as magic however only exhausting work. Thank you for making us smile, snort, yell, cry, leap out of our seats, and chew on our jerseys. Thank you for playing the game the way in which it was meant to be played. Thank you for instructing us to believe in ourselves even if no one else does. The reason for the crash is still unknown, as the helicopter was not outfitted with a black field.

Similarly, in 2010, American rapper Sho Baraka released a track referred to as "Kobe Bryant On'em", which was featured on his album Lions and Liars. In 2012, American rapper Chief Keef launched a track paying tribute to Bryant referred to as "Kobe". It was featured on his debut studio album, Finally Rich, as a half of the deluxe version.

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, every time as a starter.

Bryant's play was notable and praised for his efficiency within the 4th quarter of video games, particularly the final 2 rounds of the playoffs. This cemented Bryant's popularity as a "clutch player." Statistically, the 2000–01 season saw Bryant perform equally to the earlier yr, but he averaged 6 more factors a recreation (28.5). Once again he led the team in assists with 5 per sport. The Lakers nonetheless, only received fifty six video games, an 11-game drop off from last year. They easily swept the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, and San Antonio Spurs, earlier than dropping their first recreation in opposition to the Philadelphia 76ers in OT.

On November 2, 2012, Bryant scored 40 factors with two steals, and he passed Magic Johnson as the Lakers profession chief in steals. However, the Lakers lost the sport to the Clippers and began the season 0–3 for the first time in 34 years and simply the fourth time in franchise history. After starting the season 1–4, coach Mike Brown was fired. He was changed by Mike D'Antoni, who Bryant knew as a toddler when Bryant's father was taking part in in Italy and D'Antoni was additionally a star player there. On December 18, in a 101–100 win over the Charlotte Bobcats, Bryant scored 30+ factors in his seventh consecutive recreation, the longest streak ever by an NBA player after turning 34 years old; it was the fourth-longest such streak in his profession.

Bryant made two buzzer beaters to win the sport and the Pacific Division title. At the end of the fourth quarter, Bryant made a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to ship it into overtime. The game ultimately went to a second additional time, by which Bryant made one other 3-pointer as time expired to lift the Lakers previous the Blazers, 105–104. Kobe Bryant is famous for being probably the greatest basketball gamers in the historical past of the NBA.

In his career, Bryant scored 40-plus factors in 121 video games, and 21 occasions he recorded a triple-double. Bryant playing in opposition to Gary Neal of the Washington Wizards after saying his forthcoming retirement, 2015After recovering to play in the 2015–16 preseason, Bryant suffered a calf damage and missed the final two weeks of exhibition video games. However, he played within the season opener to begin his twentieth season with the Lakers, surpassing John Stockton's league document of 19 for the most seasons with the identical group. On November 24, 2015, the Lakers fell to 2–12 after shedding 111–77 to the Warriors. Bryant scored just four factors in 25 minutes on 1-for-14 capturing, matching the worst-shooting game of his profession in which he tried a minimum of five photographs.