Kobe Bryant is gone.

He was supposed to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett this year; he should have continued to build his business empire before becoming a shareholder of either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Philadelphia 76ers; he was supposed to give a speech in front of his own statue outside the Staples Center; he should have sat down with Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady at the table, talking about how basketball has changed after decades.

But now he's gone, killed in a helicopter crash on a hillside in Calabasas, California on Sunday. Bryant's second daughter, 13-year-old Gianna, was among the nine people who died in the crash. He was only 41.

Kobe Bean Bryant, who spent 20 years of his life redefining the laws of basketball, said goodbye to this world in such a ridiculous, unreasonable, cruel way.

If he were reading the news of his death, what would Bryant say? Probably nothing, but give that signature sneer he always wore on his face between 2005 and 2013, and then seize fate by the throat because nothing ever bent the Black Mamba.

That's who Bryant was.

People loved him most for his complete set of skills, but also hated him because he always did things the hard way. He knew the "right" way to play basketball, but he always challenged it.

Three-time NBA champion Brian Shaw realized this when Bryant tried to challenge him at the age of 11 years old.

Michael Jordan, the GOAT, knew it when Bryant in his second year challenged him one-on-one at the United Center on December 17, 1997.

NBA Development League Vice President Del Harris witnessed Bryant's defiance when the 19-year-old tried to take over the game in the playoff series against the Utah Jazz in 1998.

Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal knew it when 22-year-old Bryant began to compete for team leadership in 2001, right after they won their first ring together.

Bryant knew what he should do to win the game – he paired with O'Neal and Pau Gasol to pocket five rings – but he preferred his own way. That's why he could both miss 30 shots against Boston at TD Garden, and outscore the whole Dallas Mavericks team 62-61 in three quarters.

Bryant kept challenging his own limits, too. In order to enrich his arsenal, he made at least 2,000 jump shots every day in the summer of 2000, added 7 kilograms of muscle in the summer of 2002, learned post moves from Hakeem Olajuwon after winning his fourth championship, and spared no effort carrying the Lakers until he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in 2013.

If it weren't for the above work, he could have never scored 81 points at the Staples Center on January 22, 2006, or made seven buzzer beaters with only seven uninjured fingers in the 2009-2010 season, or won his fifth ring in 2010, or scored 60 points in his farewell game on April 13, 2016.

Bryant wrote one of the most epic stories in NBA history. He became the youngest All-Star at the age of 19 years, 170 days. He had the most fantastic career start, with three rings under his belt before turning 24 years old. Then he was seen as the bully who chased away O'Neal, spent two of his best years breaking various scoring records, but failed to get past the first round of the playoffs.

In 2008, he won the first and only NBA MVP award in his career at the age of 29, making him the third oldest in league history after Steve Nash (30) and Karl Malone (33). Nevertheless, his team not only lost in the NBA Finals, but also suffered the biggest comeback (24 points in Game 4) loss in history.

2009 and 2010 were sweet for Bryant as he won another two championships. Not only did he now have more than O'Neal, but one came against the Celtics, the perfect vengeance.

Then he grew older, suffered horrible injuries and in the end, said goodbye to his basketball career in the most "Kobe" way – shooting 22-50 from the field for a 60-point game.

And now you are telling me that Bryant is gone three years after he retired?

It's the cruelest, most diabolical joke in the world. It's not fair.

But, hey, Bryant would not care. He has been enjoying malice for over half of his career. Just like what happened in the game at the TD Garden on January 31, 2007. Celtics fans understandably booed Bryant from the beginning. However, as the game went on, they grew quiet and watched him make shots one by one. In the end, as Bryant finished a dunk to get 43 points, the arena chanted "MVP" for him, for a Laker.

That's Mamba Mentality and that's how Bryant spent his life.

"Hopefully what you will get from tonight, is to understand that those times when you get up early and you work hard, those times when you stay up late and you work hard, those times when you don't feel like working, you are too tired, you don't want to push yourself but you do it anyway, that is actually the dream. It's not the destination," said Bryant at his jersey-retiring ceremony at the Staples Center on December 18, 2017.