KOBE BRYANT WINS AN OSCAR

SPORTS

Retired basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, once the toast of Los Angeles for the Lakers ,is now a Hollywood A-lister with an Oscar.

Nearly two years after leaving the NBA, the 39-year-old Bryant won the Academy Award for best animated short yesterday for “Dear Basketball,” a collaboration with artist Glen Keane and legendary composer John Williams.

In a sardonic reference to an attack by Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham against basketballers expressing their political opinions, he said he thought NBA stars were “really supposed to shut up and dribble.”

Awards prediction website Gold Derby had Bryant as the odds-on favorite to win the Oscar for best animated short, but his triumph is unlikely to please everyone.