died one year ago today, the news arrived as a shock, particularly in the Los Angeles area where Bryant was widely beloved. Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash alongside eight other people, among them his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, was 41. Just four years earlier, he played his last game in an NBA career spent entirely with Los Angeles Lakers., though his status as an icon in Los Angeles and among NBA fans has only been cemented since his death.
Bryant’s prospects in the entertainment business were promising. He won an Academy Award in 2017 for best animated short with “Dear Basketball,” based on a piece that Bryant had written for the Players Tribune about his retirement from the game, and produced by his Granity Films. Glen Keane directed and animated the short.
With its Oscar win, “Dear Basketball” has had the most lasting legacy of any of Bryant’s projects. The company’s one current television series is ESPN Plus’ “Detail,” a sports-analysis program. At the time of Bryant’s death, he and Keane had been working on an animated version of “The Punies,” a scripted podcast produced by Granity. The company has also been behind several books published in the last year.