For most of his two-decade career in the NBA, Kobe Bryant was the player to watch. It wasn’t just the talent, which was there in spades, but the manner in which it manifested, and so often was emulated. Much was made of his will and work ethic—the Black Mamba was a competitive alter ego whose name he chose himself—but despite the reputation, he didn’t always carry himself on the court quite so single-mindedly. Today, nearly four years after his retirement, the in-game Bryant silhouette is unforgettable: loose, expressive, unpredictable, until the essential moment, when he was thrillingly decisive. Silky dribbles, all-eyes-on-me isolation plays, and unguardable fadeaways were the stock in trade.

So he scored well, so well that it was only on Saturday night that LeBron James passed Bryant as the third leading scorer in league history. James did it as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, the only team Bryant ever played for in his 20-year career. Bryant, writing with the voice of an elder statesman he’d come to inhabit at age 41, marked the occasion on Twitter. “Continuing to move the game forward,” Bryant wrote to James. The timing of that torch passing made the shocking news Sunday that Bryant had died in a helicopter crash outside Los Angeles alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, a thriving basketball talent herself, and seven others all the more incomprehensible. He was just here. And, owing to a professional basketball life that began out of high school, for the current crop of NBA players and fans, he had seemingly always been.

The accolades became so frequent and so expected that they now almost register as a footnote when thinking about Bryant’s career: five NBA championships, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Finals M.V.P.s, 18 All-Star appearances. And then there were the intangibles. His chemistry with Shaquille O’Neal, and then his friction with him, was unmissable, as in this alley-oop, a play at the center of one of those championships. He jumped over an Aston Martin in a commercial; it was fake, but it hardly mattered. In 2009, he made it clear to Shane Battier that he couldn’t be guarded, so clear that he received a technical for his efforts to edify:

His career was not without controversy. In 2003, during the peak of Bryant’s career, a 19-year old hotel employee accused him of raping her while he was in Colorado treating a knee injury. The case was dropped in 2004 when the employee declined to testify, and Bryant publicly apologized, writing, “Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did.” A civil case was settled out of court. His life on court continued to flourish. But the case and that apology were the subjects of renewed scrutiny in recent years, especially when Bryant was nominated for an Oscar that he went on to win in 2018.

Outside of a burgeoning entertainment empire, in retirement, Bryant was also becoming a noted mentor to a younger generation of players. “For most of the guys in the league,” Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens said on Sunday, “Kobe is their Jordan.” In a pre-game interview, Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers said the same—to the extent that he could say anything. “Looking at my young players and seeing how emotional they are…they didn’t know him,” he said through tears. “It just shows you how far his reach was.”

Within hours of the news breaking, tributes broke out across sport, as “Kobe! Kobe!” chants began at scheduled NBA games, but also among other athletes and from politicians, musicians, and more. At the Grammys on Sunday night, held at Staples Center, the Lakers’ home arena, there will be a rushed-together tribute. The Brazilian soccer star Neymar held up Bryant’s number 24 with his fingers after scoring a goal in Paris. Bryant left behind a legacy that extended well beyond the sport, but it wasn’t simply because he delved into entertainment and investment.

By the time Bryant aged out of the sport and the sport’s prevailing style shifted away from his rigid approach, he’d left too big of an impression to be forgotten. He continued to be present in the league, courtside but also in its overall texture: the Mamba Mentality became a skill to be learned, like a new low post move, or like one of those Bryant fadeaways that will continue to play on loop in the weeks and years to come.

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