The story of Kobe Bryant the relentless, uncompromising and brooding NBA basketball icon is a familiar one being told anew after he and eight others – including his 13-year old daughter Gianna – perished in a hillside helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif. on Sunday.
Bryant the storyteller is a lesser-known aspect of his life, one that was beginning to emerge as the driving force of his life’s second act after the 20 seasons (and five championships) as the heart and soul of the Los Angeles Lakers. That chapter abruptly ended at age 41.
Bryant brought to storytelling the same intense, singular driving force of personality as he did on the basketball court, according to those who worked with him.
Bryant’s post-basketball life got some attention for his emergence as a tech investor (and more recently, as coach of Gianna’s basketball team), but he also spent some of his fortune – he earned more than $600 million in NBA and endorsement income – to…
