Kobe’s life ‘was just getting started’
Kobe Bryant sat relaxed on a soft gray sofa. USA TODAY reporter Mark Medina faced him, asking about what was next in his post-NBA career. It was Bryant’s last sit-down down interview.
This was just two weeks ago. Bryant talked about wanting to turn books into films.
He talked about the importance of doing what you love to do. In his case, storytelling.
And he turned reflective when talking about coaching his daughter Gianna’s basketball team.
“What’s more important than the game itself is how you understand that their confidence as young women grows tremendously through playing a sport. You have to be very mindful of that,” he said. “That’s why I think coaching youth sports is so important to take that very seriously because you’re helping the emotional development of young kids.”
He shook his head, conveying both pride and gratitude, and said: “It’s been beautiful watching them grow.”
Medina was shopping in Los Angeles on Sunday when he got a text from a friend asking about Bryant. “Is it true?”
“I wrote, ‘OMG,’ ” Medina said. “My friend texted, ‘Didn’t you just interview him?!’ I wrote ‘I literally saw him last week.’ My friend wrote: ‘I’m in shock. This is incredibly sad.’ ”
Medina rushed out of from the store and started making calls. To the Lakers, some of Bryant’s people, others in the NBA. Most calls went unanswered. One source picked up.
“Is what I’m hearing true?” Medina asked.
“I need to call you back,” came the response.
“That made my heart sink,” Medina recalled. He started driving to the crash
site in Calabasas.
NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt had just come home from Philadelphia when an editor called him. He’d been on a road trip with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was at the game Saturday when LeBron James passed Bryant for third place on the NBA’s career scoring list.
TMZ was reporting the news. Zillgitt started working to confirm it.
He placed calls, then “I started writing a news flash obit, in case it turned out it was true,” Zillgitt said.
Minutes later a source confirmed. It was.
“You really don’t want to believe it,” said Zillgitt, who has covered the NBA for 11 years. “He’s still in the prime of his life. But you do have to process it.
“You start thinking about how Kobe got to this point. His legacy. What he meant to basketball, the NBA. What he meant to that franchise. He’s the last of a generation that spent his entire career with one team.
“We also can’t ignore some of the (darker) aspects of his life. The (sexual assault allegation). That’s part of it as well.
“From that point, I just kept writing.” More reporters, photographers and videographers joined in, reporting on the helicopter, the weather, the love between L.A. and Bryant and the kids at the Mamba Sports Academy waiting for Bryant to arrive. His daughter had a basketball game scheduled at noon.
By late afternoon we would learn that Bryant, Gianna (nicknamed “Gigi”) and seven others were killed in the helicopter crash that morning.
A routine interview question is now haunting. Medina asked Bryant: “What’s next on your bucket list, what would you say that is (in) 5, 10 years?”
Bryant talked about the sports fantasy book series he produces, and how he’d like to turn them into live-action or animated feature films.
“It’s fun to figure out the journey but also extremely frustrating because things don’t move as fast as you want them to,” he said. “But that’s OK.”
The interview was in Bryant’s office. Sitting behind him on a shelf were his Oscar, Sports Emmy and Annie Award for his short film, “Dear Basketball.” He told Medina they meant more to him than his NBA achievements.
“They’re at the top for me,” he said. “It’s not something that was expected. As a kid you kind of have the goal of winning championships and all these sorts of things. Being in the industry that I’m in now, wasn’t something that was thought of me winning an Oscar.”
He talked about how his new career meant more time with his wife, Vanessa, and four daughters. It also meant fulfilling a dream.
“What I’m saying is you got to do what you love to do,” he said. “I love telling stories. I love inspiring kids or providing them with tools that are going to help them.”
Medina said his takeaway from the interview was that Bryant was “very much at peace” with his NBA career and his life after basketball.
“What was new was watching him going into detail about his next chapters,” Medina said. “It was fascinating to see what that entailed.”
His multimedia company. His sports academy. His family.
“He felt like he was just getting started.” To receive this column as a newsletter, visit newsletters.usatoday.com and subscribe to The Backstory.