Kobe Bryant's 'Dear Basketball' Nominated for Best Animated Short at 2018 Oscars
In addition to being one of the greatest players in NBA history, Kobe Bryant is now an Oscar-nominated producer.
According to Dave McNary of Variety, Bryant's Dear Basketball received an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best animated short.
The animated short is based on a poem Bryant wrote for The Players' Tribune in 2015 under the same name.
Bryant tweeted the following regarding Tuesday's honor:
"What?? This is beyond the realm of imagination. It means so much that the @TheAcademy deemed #DearBasketball worthy of contention. Thanks to the genius of @GlenKeanePrd & John Williams for taking my poem to this level. It's an honor to be on this team. #OscarNoms"
He wrote the poem in the midst of his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant was named an All-Star 18 times and won five championships, two Finals MVPs and one regular-season MVP. He is third on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
Dear Basketball is an animated journey through Bryant's career, taking viewers from his beginnings as a child with a dream to the end of a storied 20-year NBA career.
It already won a pair of awards at the 2017 World Animation Celebration after debuting at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
According to Variety, Dear Basketball will vie for an Oscar against Garden Party, Lou, Negative Space and Revolting Rhymes.
