Kobe Bryant was no ordinary 31-year-old in 2010. By then, the Black Mamba had logged a lot of mileage and the treads were running thin on those wheels. He missed only 14 games over the previous five seasons, not to mention deep playoff runs since his rookie year in 1996-97 that continued until 2003-04.
However, Bryant remained as effective as ever, even though he was not the spry, young high-flyer he once was. Given the injuries he sustained over the years, it's impressive how the Los Angeles Lakers guard stayed at such an elite level.
Even though KB24 remained remarkably healthy before the 2009-'10 season, he was hit with the injury bug out of nowhere. He broke a bone in his finger in December 2009 and has been dealing with it for months. Bryant also suffered from a bad back, a tweaked elbow, and a swollen knee, among other things.
Given his aforementioned mileage and NBA age (2009-10 was Kobe's 14th season), experts wondered how he would handle the process. It turns out that that issue was the least of Bryant's worries.
"You have to be honest with yourself," Kobe told Scott Van Pelt (per ESPN's Brian Kamenetzky). "There's certain things that I could do then that I can't do now. I think once you make that level of assessment, you can still be as effective or as efficient as your team needs you to be. You just have to do it differently, and I think that's the challenge of aging or your body maturing."
It was common NBA knowledge that Bryant was the most competitive person around. That's why it would not be a surprise if he already worked on changing his game to maximize his remaining years. Like Michael Jordan, he needed to do his thing on the ground more instead of in the air before his body started to fall apart for good.
Perhaps that's the reason why he sought Hakeem Olajuwon's guidance in the summer of 2009 to fine-tune his low-post game. Kobe deliberately expanded his arsenal to stay ahead, adding an array of fadeaway jumpers and post moves so he would not have to take a beating driving to the basket. He was fine with it because, after all, commanding a game comes in many forms.
"The strengths that I have now were weaknesses when I was a kid. The strengths that I had as a kid may be weaknesses now. So you just kind of flip-flop and get the same results," stated Bryant, per Jonathan Abrams of The New York Times.
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The Lakers drew the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the 2010 playoffs. It was a first vs. eight seed matchup, but the up-and-coming Thunder won 50 games that season, just seven games behind the Purple and Gold.
Needless to say, OKC's youthful energy made Bryant feel his age. He shot just 37 percent from the floor in the first three games, clearly bothered by the length of Thabo Sefolosha and Kevin Durant . In a Game 4 blowout loss, the 2008 MVP did not score until the second quarter. He finished with 12 points on just 10 shot attempts.
Luckily, the Lakers survived the riot that the Thunder brought. The defending champs played perfectly in Game 5, which allowed Bryant to rest, and then finished off OKC in Game 6 with a Pau Gasol putback. Kobe dropped 32, though he missed a potential game-winner that Pau cleaned up.
From there, he never looked back. Bryant torched the Utah Jazz in the second round, averaging 32 points and six assists on a 52 percent clip, and then looked pretty much unstoppable against the Phoenix Suns in the WCF. It was probably the best playoff series of Bean's career outside of the 2001 Western Conference Finals vs. the Spurs .
Kobe found another gear when many thought he was done, reminding everyone why he had been the league's most feared competitor for years. He no longer relied on pure athleticism, but his mastery of the game more than filled the gap.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Feb 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
