“Will always remember him as a man who was much more than an athlete.” Kobe Bryant was literally on the path of turning Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s praise for him true. Following his retirement in 2016, the former Los Angeles Lakers star’s plans were quite diverse. In 2018, Kobe took home the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for “Dear Basketball,” a short based on the poem he wrote when announcing his retirement. It was a huge moment that showed Kobe wasn’t just settling into retirement—he was excelling in a totally different arena. Whether it be his business ambitions or his desire to uplift women’s basketball. But then there were some unfulfilled desires that many might know about.

And Carmelo Anthony opened up about one of them on his podcast. The discussion on 7 PM in Brooklyn started with how Carmelo Anthony and the podcast guest Jay Shetty found Kobe Bryant at peace with retirement during their interactions with Black Mamba when he was no longer in the league. He was doing a lot of things, including focusing on the game, but through his daughter Gianna. But not many would know Kobe Bryant was heavily invested in his desire to work on a book series. Something that even Melo revealed on his podcast.

“He was a storyteller. That’s what he wanted to do. He wanted to tell stories. He wanted to write books, fantasy books and sports fantasy books. Like, this is what he wanted to do,” Melo shared, giving fans a rare look into Black Mamba’s creative soul. And Kobe meant it. He wasn’t casually dabbling in writing. As per a 2020 article by The Athletic, the ex-Laker reached out to Canadian author Wesley King with the hope of creating something special. Funny enough, King wasn’t exactly thrilled at first—after all, Kobe had once dropped 81 points on his favorite team, the Toronto Raptors. But that hesitation disappeared the moment he saw how serious Kobe was about books.

When King first visited him, he was shown Kobe Bryant’s treasured collections—Harry Potter books signed by J. K. Rowling, and Game of Thrones editions signed by George R. R. Martin. Not what you’d usually expect from an NBA legend, right? Impressed by each other for their love of books, the two decided to collaborate on a series of books. Once together, their brainstorming sessions would stretch for hours.

They weren’t just plotting stories—they were building a world with meaning, layering in mantras and messages for young readers to hold on to. For Kobe Bryant, it was about passing down the values and lessons he had to learn the hard way. It was personal. As a father, he wanted his stories to speak to kids like his own daughters. And so, in March 2019, those efforts came to life with The Wizenard Series: Training Camp. The book even became a New York Times Bestseller and was only meant to be the first chapter in a much larger series.

With the global children’s book market surging to $150.9 billion by 2024, the potential was massive. But the story took a heartbreaking turn. The Athletic article revealed that just as King was getting ready to travel to Los Angeles to meet Kobe and map out the future of their book series, he was flooded with calls and messages. Bryant had been in a helicopter crash. And with that, one of Black Mamba’s most heartfelt dreams remained forever unfinished. However, his creative side is not the only thing that we, as fans, were deprived of.

Kobe Bryant had a massive 20-year plan before it was ruined by the tragic incident

It was Matt Barnes who revealed at last year’s UNINTERRUPTED Film Fest that Kobe had plans so bold, they might’ve made fans forget his time on the court. Barnes recalled sitting with the Black Mamba in his office right before his final interview, when Kobe said something unforgettable: That his next 20 years would overshadow the last. “He was so intelligent and so adamant about being the greatest in the business space,” Barnes said.

And true to his word, the 5x NBA champ wasn’t waiting around to start. Long before his tragic passing, he was already investing in major players like Dell, Alibaba, Epic Games, and Body Armor. Then there was Granity Studios—his brainchild that quickly gained acclaim for its unique storytelling. Yep, he was not limited to just books to let out his creative side. Amid such circumstances, it’s hard not to imagine just how far he would’ve gone.

What made his vision even more remarkable was how he planned to carry over that same Mamba mindset. According to Barnes, Kobe intended to swap early workouts with pre-dawn emails and networking—still up at 4:30 a.m., still chasing greatness. Just in a whole new arena. From his business journey to his creative side, there is no denying that fans suffered one of the biggest robberies of their lifetime by being deprived of what Black Mamba could’ve been post-retirement.