While Kobe has an insane work ethic and has historically been completely consumed by basketball, he has found time to enjoy life and pursue ventures off of the court in his retirement. In addition to collecting beautiful houses, fancy cars, and even a helicopter, the Black Mamba has mentored up-and-coming NBA stars, invested in projects in tech, athletics, and entertainment, and even won an Oscar.
Needless to say, Bryant is living the life saying and doing whatever he wants in an endlessly entertaining fashion.
Tony Manfred contributed to this report.
Let's take a closer look at how Kobe spends his millions:
He went to high school in the Philly suburbs, but he grew up in Italy. He loves Italian cars.
He once walked into a Ferrari dealership and wrote a $329,000 check for a 458 Italia.
He has owned a Lamborghini, a Bentley, and a Range Rover.
And yet, hes not above eating at Waffle House, as he did with his wife during a trip to Atlanta in 2015.
He owned three houses that were estimated to be worth $18.8 million in 2012. All of them are in Orange County, California, a lengthy drive from his former place of work at the Staples Center.
Kobe sold one of those houses in 2015 for $6.1 million.
Bryant had a helicopter that he typically took to home games. He says it saved him from sitting in traffic and kept his body fresh.
He has been pretty generous with his helicopter, too. He once let teammate Steve Blake use it to go to a doctors appointment.
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Kobe had a strange fashion phase before it was cool to wear strange fashion in the NBA. He appeared in an odd photo shoot for LA Weekly and teammate Metta World Peace (known as Ron Artest at the time) said, "Hes a star. Hes Kobe Bryant. He can do what he wants."
And in his younger days, Bryant partied with some of the best and brightest in the league.
But at games, he still kept things classy.
Kobe is the second-highest-paid NBA player ever, with $323 million in career salary. He trails only Kevin Garnett, but LeBron James is only a couple of seasons behind him.
Kobe has always had an incredible competitive fire, one where he is willing to put his money where his mouth is. With Team USA in 2012, he challenged Kyrie Irving to a $50,000 game of one-on-one.
He has long had the disposable income for outlandish bets. During his NBA career, Kobe made a whopping $680 million in endorsements with companies like Nike, Lenovo, Hublot, and Panini.
But Bryant started Kobe Inc. in 2013 to become more of a business partner as opposed to the more traditional athlete endorser. The companys first investment was a 10% stake in sports drink BodyArmor.
And after Coca-Cola purchased a majority stake in the company, his initial $6 million investment ballooned into $200 million in value.
In 2014, Kobe spent $5.8 million to purchase this building in Newport Beach to house the offices of Kobe Inc.
Kobe Inc. has also partnered with Alibaba to produce his documentary "Muse" and to produce and distribute Kobe-branded products in China.
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Shortly after his retirement, Bryant also started production company Kobe Studios which has since been rebranded as Granity Studios with the goal of "creating new ways to tell stories around sports."
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In 2017, Kobes animated short film "Dear Basketball" won an Academy Award.
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But not all of Kobes entertainment ventures have been as successful. Kobe once went all in on a rap career, even enlisting heavyweight hip-hop video director Hype Williams to direct the video for Kobes first single, "K.O.B.E." The song was not well-received and the video was never released.
One good thing came out of that song, as it was during the video shoot that he met his wife, Vanessa.
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The couple married in 2001 and have three daughters together.
And theyre expecting a fourth daughter in 2019.
But things havent always been smooth sailing in the Bryant household.
In July of 2003, Bryant was accused of raping a woman in his Colorado hotel room the night before he was slated to have surgery on his right knee.
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Bryant admitted to having an adulterous sexual encounter with the 19-year-old but claimed he viewed the incident as consensual.
In a stunning apology, Bryant said: "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. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter."
Although prosecutors dropped a criminal trial against Bryant because his accuser refused to testify, the two sides settled for an undisclosed amount in a civil case that closed in 2005.
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He was also reportedly set to lose $75 million in a divorce, but he and Vanessa worked things out.
An 8-karat purple diamond ring that cost Kobe a whopping $4 million may have had something to do with it.
By the time Bryant was set to retire, his scandal was treated like a distant memory and the Los Angeles Lakers legend enjoyed a glorious victory lap.
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Bryant has since taken a keen interest in becoming an adroit businessman and investor.
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Bryant cold-calls business people and entrepreneurs to learn more about them and the secrets to success.
And hes taken on a mentor in billionaire investor Chris Sacca.
After Sacca told Bryant to do his homework about the business world, Kobe channeled his obsessive, competitive spirit into learning more about investing.
"For the next few months my phone never stops buzzing in the middle of the night. Its Kobe, reading this article, checking out this tweet, following this guy, diving into this Ted Talk, diving into the Y Combinator Demo Day stuff," Sacca said.
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The duo teamed up for a project Bryant dubbed 13, an homage to the 12 players selected before him in the 1996 NBA Draft.
He also teamed up with current professional stars like James Harden and JuJu Smith-Schuster to launch a body care company for athletes called Art of Sport.
Of course, Kobe hasnt let himself stray too far from the world of basketball. He analyzes current NBA and WNBA players, teams, and trends in Detail on ESPN+.
Hes also mentoring several stars since retiring, including Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic, and Candace Parker.
Hes put all of his energy into shaping his legacy: "To think of me as a person thats overachieved, that would mean a lot to me. That means I put a lot of work in and squeezed every ounce of juice out of this orange that I could."
Now check out how LeBron James spends his millions:
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LEBRON JAMES: How the king of the NBA spends his millions
