NBA Legend Kobe Bryant, Daughter Gianna Killed in Helicopter Crash
The time spent on court with his daughter Gianna had revived Kobe Bryant´s passion for basketball, the NBA star had said in an interview two weeks ago (Pic: Kobe, Instagram).
NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant were among those killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on January 26. Bryant was 41.
Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, Bryant was on his way to a youth basketball game with Gianna, when the helicopter crashed.
The crash came a day after Bryant was passed by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James for third place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Bryant was active on social media, and immediately after the feat, he congratulated James on Twitter during the Lakers' 108-91 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
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A 6’6” small forward with the ability to swing up front and play point or shooting guard, Bryant entered the NBA out of high school. In 1996, at age 18, he became the youngest player in NBA history. He joined the Los Angeles Lakers, a team he would spend his entire career with.
Bryant won five NBA titles in his time with the Lakers. Now fourth on the NBA's all-time scoring list with 33,643 points, Bryant won two NBA Finals MVP awards and one NBA regular-season MVP in 2008. This week also marked the 14-year anniversary of Bryant's 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors, still the second-most points ever scored in an NBA game, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100 in 1962. He also won gold medals with Team USA at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Bryant moved into the media following his retirement and in 2018 won an Oscar for best animated short film for ‘Dear Basketball’, based on a poem he wrote about his retirement from the game.
Since he retired in 2016, Bryant had been coaching “Gigi’s” middle-school basketball team. According to the New York Times, Bryant and his daughter were on their way to his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks to take part in a tournament for young players when the crash occurred. Gianna, aged 13, was due to play in the tournament and Bryant was going to coach, CNN reported.
The time spent on court with his daughter had revived his passion for the game, Bryant had told the BET network two weeks ago. “It wasn’t me sitting there, you know as an athlete or a player or something like that, and you know it’s like about me, and I don’t like that. It was her, she was having such a good time,” Bryant said.
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Former Laker Magic Johnson, gave his thoughts after the tragedy. “My friend, a legend, husband, father, son, brother, Oscar winner and greatest Laker of all-time is gone,” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s hard to accept. Kobe was a leader of our game, a mentor to both male and female players.”
Players and fans observed a minute’s silence at the first scheduled NBA game on Sunday, an encounter between the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets. The Lakers’ next game is on Tuesday at their home arena, the Staples Center, against their cross-city rivals, the Clippers where fans and franchise alike are expected to pay their respects to one of the cities most popular and greatest heroes.
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