Few had the career (or, for that matter, final game) that Kobe Bryant enjoyed in his 20 seasons in the NBA. The NBA playoffs are in full swing, a stage on which Bryant delivered some of his greatest moments, yet he tells the Orange County Register’s Mark Medina he hasn’t felt the itch to stage a comeback:

Since retiring a year ago after a 20-year NBA career with the Lakers, though, the 38-year-old Bryant said he no longer misses it. Does that surprise him?

“Yeah, pleasantly so. That means I’m doing the right thing,” Bryant said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “It’s always concerning to feel like that itch comes back and you feel like you’re missing something and you try to scratch that and this, that and the other. I haven’t had that at all.”

Instead of Bryant itching to hold the ball in his hands, considering adding to his 33,643 career points and five NBA championships, he has developed an appetite for digital storytelling with his Newport Beach-based company Kobe, Inc.

“I’ve been so consumed and have had so much fun in putting stories together and putting up techniques,” Bryant said. “Every day to come into the office, to take on and come up with stories and figure out a way to make those stories real by challenging ourselves to come up with techniques that haven’t been done, it consumes me. I just love it.”

After obsessing over his game and the outcome on the hardwood for decades, Bryant has carried that same mindset into the film room.

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Bryant capped his career on April 13, 2016 in the regular-season finale against Utah. That night, Bryant scored a season-high 60 points on 22-of-50 shooting in 42 minutes. Bryant’s final three seasons were the three worst win-loss records in franchise history.

“It’s kind of this roller coaster ride that is a never-ending one,” Bryant said. “But it is about finding acceptance in those difficult times and understanding that the great times don’t last.”

Though those tough times prevented Bryant from squeezing out more production and adding to his five NBA titles, he counted his victories elsewhere. He largely credited his three season-ending injuries for helping him prepare for his post-NBA career. He also called reviewing the Muse film “the best thing that happened to me during the injury” to his right shoulder in the 2014-15 campaign.

“I looked at a finished cut of the Muse film. I didn’t like it at all,” Bryant said. “I felt like it was kind of a branding piece. I was just starting to figure out that I like writing and I like storytelling. I have this film here. Let me redo this film.”

So Showtime granted Bryant permission to rewrite the whole film shortly before its release on Feb. 28, 2015. He cut out the interviews his documentary crew conducted with assorted Lakers and NBA figures. The film featured him staring into the camera, sharing the highs and lows of his professional and personal life. He also featured original music.

“Once I started doing that, I found so much enjoyment in that process,” Bryant said. “Then we built a great team around the young and talented editors that spoke the same language. After that film, I thought I loved doing that. This is what I want to do.”