In the 1996 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired the draft rights to a 17-year old high schooler from Philadelphia, PA that would lead them to a handful championships while putting together a glorifying career resume on the hardwood that was accomplished through an unquestioned, relentless, determined and inspirational pride created a loyal legion of fans from Southern California to across the U.S. and the globe both male and female. He took what he dubbed “The Mamba Mentality” into his second act after basketball through storytelling that earned him the highest honor in cinema just two years ago. Unfortunately, that second act was cut way too short.
On Sunday, NBA legend and future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other individuals died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, CA, about 30 miles northwest outside of downtown Los Angeles.
Bryant was 41 years old and is survived by his wife of 19 years the former Vanessa Laine and their three other daughters in 17-year-old Natalia Diamante, four-year-old Bianka Bella and Capri Kobe, who is just seven months old.
The other victims of the crash include John Altobelli, head coach of Southern California’s Orange Coast College baseball team, his wife Keri and their 13-year-old daughter Alyssa, Gianna’s teammate. Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. The pilot Ara Zobayan and basketball coach Christina Mauser.
The Sikorsky S-76 helicopter carrying Bryant, his second oldest daughter and the seven other passengers left Santa Ana a little after 9 a.m. pacific time circling for a time east of Interstate 5.
Poor visibility around the Burbank, just North and Van Nuys to the northwest, noted by air traffic control.
After the helicopter was held up for other aircraft to pass, air traffic control cleared the Sikorsky S-76 to fly north alongside Interstate 5 through Burbank, CA before it was turned west following U.S. Route 101, the Ventura Highway.
The helicopter made a turn again shortly after 9:40 a.m. pacific time southeast, climbing 2,300 feet above sea level before descending and then crashing into the hillside at about 1,400 feet, according to Flightradar24.
Data from Flightradar24 also showed that at the time of impact, the helicopter flew at about 160 knots (184 miles per hour), which descended at a rate of over 4,000 feet per minute.
The cause of the crash was unknown, and the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office said that specialists were working at the scene of the crash to recover the bodies as investigators tried to get confirmation about the identities of the victims.
Bryant, who lived south of L.A. in coastal Orange County, CA frequently traveled by helicopters during his 20-year career with the Lakers to practices and games before the conclusion of his playing career in 2016 to avoid the famed rough Southern California traffic on the 405. He also used this form of transportation to be able to keep a balance between his profession and not compromise time with his family.
“I had to figure out a way where I can still train and focus on the craft (basketball) but still not compromise family time,” the future Hall of Famer said in an interview not to long ago. “And so that’s when looked into helicopters.”
Bryant, who grew close with his daughter Gianna through their shared love of hoops once told a charming story to late night host Jimmy Kimmel back in 2018, one of his 15 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” weeknights on ABC about how when fans would come up to him and say how the he and Vanessa needed to have a son to carry on the basketball tradition. Bryant’s daughter one time when that occurred said, “Oy, I got this. You don’t need a boy for that. I got this.”
Bryant said to Kimmel when that moment happened said at that moment, “That’s right. Yes, you do. You got this.”
The basketball world and in L.A. reacted with an outpouring of pain a disbelief for a man whose career resume, that consisted of 20 seasons in the “City of Angels” with the Lakers from 1996-2016 he was an 18-time All-Star, second only to the 19 selections by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, winning All-Star Game MVP four times (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011). He led the Lakers to five NBA titles (2000-2002, 2009-10), capturing the Bill Russell Finals MVP in 2009 and 2010, and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2008 and 2012). He won Kia MVP in 2008; made the All-NBA First team 11 times (2002-04, 2006-13), Second team (2000, 2001) and Third team (1999, 2005) twice respectably.
As great of an offensive player he was, he was just as good defensively, making the NBA All-Defensive First team nine times (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006-11); All-Defensive Second team three times (2001, 2002, 2012) and won the scoring title twice (2006, 2007).
“For 20 seasons, Kobe showed us what is possible when remarkable talent blends with an absolute devotion to winning,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement on Sunday adding, “He was one of the most extraordinary players in the history of our game with accomplishments that are legendary: five NBA championships, an NBA MVP award, 18 NBA All-Star selections, and two Olympic gold medals. But he will be remembered most for inspiring people around the world to pick up a basketball and compete to the very best of their ability. He was generous with the wisdom he acquired and saw it as his mission to share it with future generations of players, taking special delight in passing down his love of the game to Gianna.”
“We send our condolences to his wife, Vanessa, and their family, the Lakers organization and the entire sports world.”
As impressive as those numbers are for what Bryant did individually, it is the numbers of playing with and against 1,462 players, 140 head coaches and 31 different Hall of Famers, according to Elias Sports Bureau during his 20 seasons with the purple.
Perhaps the best statistics that describes how great of an offensive player Bryant was during his 20-year career, only the late great Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlin scored 60-plus points more times in NBA history, 32 times that the six by Bryant with the last one coming in the last game of the 2015-16 regular season in front of the fans at Staples Center when he scored 60 right on the nose as the Lakers won versus the Utah Jazz 101-96 on ESPN on Apr. 13, 2016.
“Thank you, guys, for all the years of support. Thank you, guys, for all the motivation. Thank you for all the inspiration. God, I love you guys,” Bryant said the Staples Center audience and those that watched on television after his final NBA game ever that April night of 2016. “What can I say? Mamba out.”
That work ethic, which led to the individual and team success by Bryant he emulated from the transformative generational player that came before him in six-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, who was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 and help turn them with help from fellow Hall of Famers Phil Jackson and Scottie Pippen into an all-time great team.
He was perhaps the only one who came close to the level of the six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan, one of his idols, playing with a confidence, focus and determination with the propensity to trash talk; willing to guard the opposing team’s best offensive player; willing to play through pain and demanded the ball go to him in the biggest moments, especially late in games, particularly in the postseason.
“I am shocked over the tragic news of Kobe’s and Gianna’s passing. Words can’t describe the pain I’m feeling. I loved Kobe-he was like a little brother to me. We used to talk often, and I will most those conversations very much. He was a fierce competitor, one of the great of the game and a creative force. Kobe was also an amazing dad who loved his family deeply-and took great pride in his daughter’s love for the game of basketball. Yvette joins me in sending my deepest condolences to Vanessa, the Lakers organization and basketball fans around the world.”
Bryant brought that same kind of determination and drive, along with getting around in a helicopter after retirement from the NBA to attend his growing entertainment company Granity Studios that recently produced his Academy Award-winning animated short-film “Dear Basketball” in 2018 for Best Animated Short Film, which also netted him a Sports Emmy Award as well.
“I can write. I can edit. I can produce,” Bryant told Newsday’s Neil Best back in 2018. “I can do those things at a series level. It’s not something that’s kind of a one-time passion sort of thing. It’s just something we do every single day.
That storytelling was brought to ESPN+ called “Detail,” where he gave analysis of the 2018 NBA Playoffs and of certain players.
Before he dipped his toe into media entertainment, Bryant first invested in BODYARMOUR, a sports drink company that has really risen the past couple of years.
Bryant had also joined forces with author Wesley King and they created a Young Adult book franchise called “The Wizenhard Series,” which Parade magazine described as an “intersection of Harry Potter-esque fantasy and traditional sports.”
The first book of that series came out in 2019 titled “The Wizenhard: Training Camp.” The second book “The Wizenhard Series: Season One” was scheduled for release in March.
Another part of Bryant’s second act has been giving back his knowledge and wisdom he received during his thriving NBA career at Mamba Sports Academy in Newbury City, CA where he was flying with his second oldest daughter to attend a basketball tournament, which supports 50,000 on annual basis through sports clinics and club teams. It has also served as grounds where NBA and WNBA players train at.
Bryant retired as the No. 3 all-time leading scorer in NBA history with 33,643, all scored with the purple and gold, until Saturday night when four-time Kia MVP and current Laker LeBron James (now at 33,654 and counting) in the Lakers (36-10) 108-91 loss at ironically enough the Philadelphia 76ers, Bryant’s hometown.
Bryant’s final tweet before his untimely passing was his growth from the player who during his playing career was not at the top of his list saying to James on passing him into No. 3 on the all-time scoring list, “Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother??? #33644.”
Just nearly 24 hours expressing how much James admired and respected Bryant, especially after he gave him a pair of his shoes at All-Star Weekend in the city of “Brotherly Love” in February 2001, he was visibly shaken and sad by the news of Bryant’s passing as he walked alone from the Lakers’ team plane that landed in Southern California.
Over the last 72 hours, thousands of people gathered outside the Lakers home building Staples Center in downtown L.A. wearing either his No. 8 or No. 24 jerseys, which the Lakers retired two years back mixed in with those in fancy attire at the downtown arena and at L.A. Live across the street.
Inside Staples Center, where the Grammy Awards took place, televised on CBS, there were tributes paid in the place host singer/songwriter Alicia Keys said, “we’re literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built.”
Outside Staples Center, L.A. Live and at his former high school Lower Merion, where the gymnasium was named after him, makeshift memorials of candles, flowers, Lakers apparel, especially that of Bryant is where those that loved and cherished the star guard can be found shedding tears and chanting “Kobe!” and “MVP!” under giant video screens showing Bryant’s majestic smiling face.
“Such a huge loss for everybody and my thoughts and prayers go out to Vanessa and the girls, and the Bryant family,” former teammate Guy Stewart said on Monday.
Stewart added about his former teammate calling him, “Super competitive. He was trying to win every drill. And his competitive nature just kind of rubbed off on you. You wanted to be great for him.”
“Very devastated, mostly,” was what Philadelphia resident said to WABC’s Sam Ryan about the loss of the most famed Lower Merion alum adding, “Kobe’s a legend. Like his motivation. His soul. He put everything into his work. It’s sad to lose him.”
In the wake of Bryant's passing the third tilt of this season scheduled between the Lakers and their building sharing rivals the Los Angeles Clippers was canceled with a rescheduled date to be determined.
One person who helped Bryant capture the first of those three championships was Hall of Famer, four-time NBA champion and current NBATV/NBA on TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal. While their relationship as teammates was contentious at times, there was a profound respect on both sides. A respect that grew as both players retired from the game, especially the respect they had as fathers of four and five respectably.
O’Neal said in another tweet on Sunday how he would hug Bryant’s girls as if they were his own and Bryant would embrace and show love to his five children in kind. He tweeted that on the day his daughter Gianna, affectionately known as Gigi was born on the same day as his youngest daughter Me’Arah.
“There’s no words to express the pain I’m going through with this tragedy of losing my niece Gigi & my brother @kobebryant I love u and u will be missed. My condolences go out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. IM SICK RIGHT NOW,” O’Neal tweeted @SHAQ on Sunday with photos of the two together celebrating their moments of triumph.
One other major person of the Lakers family that was shaken to his core when Bryant passed was five-time NBA champion and the floor general during the “Showtime” era of the 1980s in Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, whose locker at the old Great Western Forum was used by Bryant at the beginning of his career.
“Laker Nation, the game of basketball & our city, will never be the game without Kobe,” Johnson tweeted @MagicJohnson, adding, “Cookie & I are praying for Vanessa, his beautiful daughters Natalia, Bianka & Capri, as well as his parents Joe & Pam & his sisters. We will always be here for the Bryant family.”
“Kobe and I shared so many special conversations about life and basketball. We had so much in common off the court. I used to love talking to him about Lakers basketball, being fathers and husbands and how much, we loved Italy. I will miss those conversations and him so much.”
As heartbroken as “Magic Johnson” and O’Neal were on the passing of Bryant, no one took it harder than then Hall of Famer and Lakers General Manager Jerry West, who made the deal with the Charlotte Hornets on draft night nearly a quarter of a century ago, who called Bryant “a man for all seasons.”
Mr. West, as he told ABC News Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts and ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi on Sunday night ABC Special, “Kobe Bryant: Death of a Legend” hoped like many fans and admires of Bryant that it was a falsehood that he passed away in a helicopter crash.
Mr. West got to know Bryant very well when he first came to L.A. because his son Ryan would drive him to practices. How Mr. West help guide the future Hall of Famer through the hurdles of becoming an NBA great in the biggest media capital of the world next to New York City.
“One of the worst days of my life. The only thing I can compare it too, I had a brother killed in Korea and I’m just devastated by this news,” the NBA logo said. “And to watch him transform his life and career from this iconic player to have an enormous career in the media business. And to see him with his young kids, his young daughters. The joy that was in their eyes looking at their father who obviously they loved to the attention he paid to them to his getting involved in promoting women’s basketball. This was a man for all seasons. He was more than an iconic basketball player. He was someone who inspired millions of fans. Not here in this state. Not here in the United States. All over the world.”
That love and respect has certainly been shown to Bryant since his passing, especially during “The Association’s” slate of games from the middle of Sunday afternoon to Tuesday night.
Before the Boston Celtics and New Orleans Pelicans tilt on ESPN Sunday night at the Smoothie King Center in “The Big Easy,” color analyst and NBA Hall of Fame coach Hubie Brown said of the transcending talented Bryant’s passing, “the saddest day of my basketball career.”
“We’re talking about a physical force as a teenager that came into this league with a passion for the game seldom scene. He never took a backseat to anyone in work ethic. And then the fact that when you talk about-name the two greatest two-way players in the history of this game he’s right up at the top of the list.”
“The love that’s being expressed in this building and around the world was due. Because he had such an incredible career.”
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks over on Sunday said in a statement on Sunday that "Kobe's legacy transcends basketball, and our organization has decided that the number 24 will never again be worn by a Dallas Maverick."
Perhaps those most eye-opening tribute came in the first game of the Sunday slate of NBA action took place at Pepsi Center between the Houston Rockets (29-17) and Denver Nuggets, which the Nuggets (32-15) won 117-110.
In 2003, Bryant was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old at a resort in Eagle, CO. He had said the moment was consensual and the charges were eventually drop, ped. The woman later though filed a lawsuit against Bryant, that eventually was settled out of court.
While the adulation for the superstar remained in L.A. admits all the allegations, every time Bryant and the Lakers visited the Nuggets, he was met with boos from those in attendance.
The scene on Sunday afternoon was completely different as many of the Nuggets players sat at their lockers before game time, looking at their phones in shock as the details of Bryant’s passing emerged.
There was a moment of silence for Bryant before the game and was followed by chants from the Nuggets faithful of “Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!”
At one point in the game, Rockets’ center Tyson Chandler was seen on the bench in tears expressing his sadness about the passing of Bryant.
Reserve guard Austin Rivers, the son of Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said after the game of the passing of Bryant visibly said, “I got to be honest, I’m a competitor and obviously we cared about losing tonight but I got to be honest with you, it wasn’t on my mind when we lost, us losing the game. You go back to reality and the facts are we lost somebody that meant so much to all of us. And then you hear about his daughter. As a father, I’ve said many prayers for that family and I will continue to do so.”
“This was a tough one…This pain is not going to go away anytime soon. You don’t even have to be a basketball fan to feel this one. One of the of the most competitive athletes, and to be completely honest, more so as a father and what he’s meant to that family. I’m going to pray for (his wife) Vanessa and the kids. May he rest in peace.”
In the games that followed, each team during the opening moments of their respective contests paid tribute to Bryant by either taking respective 24-second shot clock violations or eight-second backcourt violations in to pay homage to the self-proclaimed “Black Mamba,” who as mentioned wore the No. 8 and No. 24, which were both retired by the Lakers.
That first happened in the contest between L.A.’s other team in the Clippers (33-14), who played and won at the Orlando Magic (21-27) Sunday evening 112-97.
Before the game, head coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers, who as the head coach of the Boston Celtics played Bryant and the Lakers twice in The Finals beating them for their 17th title in 2008, but lost to them in seven games in the 2010 Finals express his sadness for the loss of Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
“I just don’t have a lot to say. The news is just devastating to everybody,” Rivers said. “I’ve known him a long time and, you know, he means a lot to me obviously. He was such a great opponent. It’s what you want in sports. He had that DNA that very few athletes can ever have.”
Madison Square Garden’s exterior, normally lit in the colors of orange and blue during New York Knicks games was lit in purple and gold in honor of Bryant during their Sunday night tilt with the crosstown rival Brooklyn Nets, which they won 110-97.
Bryant’s photo appeared on the video board before the national anthem honoring his memory with a moment of silence while the 24-second shot clock counted down. That was followed by the chant from those in attendance of “KO-BE! KO-BE!”
Like most of the greats in NBA history, they always brought their best when they played at MSG and Bryant was no different.
Back on Feb. 2, 2009, Bryant scored a then MSG visitors record 61 points, which was equaled by 2018 Kia MVP James Harden of the Houston Rockets last season. That 61-point night by Bryant was one of the six times in Bryant’s career he scored 60-plus points, only trailing the late great Wilt Chamberlin’s 32 games of 60-plus points.
Thirteen years prior, an 18-year-old Bryant in his rookie season scored the first point of his NBA career on a free throw at MSG on Nov. 5, 1996 in a 98-92 Lakers win.
In his last appearance on Broadway on Nov. 8, 2015 scored 18 points in a 99-95 loss at the Knicks.
One player noticeably absent from the game between the Nets and Knicks was All-Star guard Kyrie Irving, who was very close to Bryant and according to reports was too sad to play. The Nets disclosed that their starting lead guard’s absent was due to personal reasons.
Before the game, Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson, who on a couple of occasions tried to keep his emotions in check said to the press, “We’d like to express our sincerest condolences to the Bryant family and everybody affected by the tragedy.”
“As an organization, we’re devastated, our players are devastated. We have a player that was very close to Kobe (Irving). Our thoughts and prayers are with him also. It’s just a tough time for the NBA with all this. That really all I have to say.”
Before the Atlanta Hawks contests versus the Washington Wizards that same evening, which they won 152-133, Trae Young, who Bryant’s daughter Gigi was a big fan, wore a No. 8 jersey to start the game before switching back to his normal No. 11. He scored 45 points with 14 assists in the victory.
At the 2019 NFL Pro Bowl in Orlando, FL on ESPN Sunday afternoon, members of the National Football Conference squad led by Green Bay Packers Za’Darius Smith after a sack paid tribute to Bryant by jab stepping followed by shooting a jump shot.
“We came in third down, we was like, ‘Man this is what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna do two steps and then we’re gonna do a fadeaway for him,” Smith said to ESPN’s Lisa Salters. “So, for everybody to participate man as a team man, I just hope that touched a lot of people in a special way.”
Many of the members of the NFC and AFC players said what they respected most about Bryant was his competitiveness and sheer will to get better.
“So much respect for him as a competitor. I know he inspired so many people in so many different ways,” New Orleans Saints signal caller and perennial Pro Bowler Drew Brees said to Salters about Bryant. “One of the great competitors of any generation. Not just with sports, but I think with just the way he approached a lot of things, and what he was doing now after basketball. I pray for him. I pray for his family.”
Baltimore Ravens QB and league MVP to be Lamar Jackson called Bryant a “legend” that did so much for the game of basketball and inspired many others to be great, including himself.
“He’s a great player and from what I heard, you know, he was a great person as well. So, my prayers with him and his family.”
Houston Texans’ QB Deshaun Watson, who got a chance to talk to Bryant a couple of months back when he came down to “Clutch City” was at a loss words about the tragic passing of Bryant calling it “heartbreaking,” saying that a number of the players that found out before taking the field were very emotional.
“When you have an iconic legend. Someone who transformed the game and many lives. Is a positive person. A positive role model. Man, a father and husband. Just a great person man and a great human being clearly,” Baltimore Ravens running back Mark Ingram said.
“The world is devastated today. It’s a tragedy man. There’s really nothing you can say, accept your thinking about that family. Praying for the family. Praying for everybody affected. This hurts.”
Six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback of the New England Patriots Tom Brady tweeted, “We miss you already Kobe.”
Longtime friend and Laker fan in pro golfer Tiger Woods learned of Bryant’s passing while playing his final round of the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, CA early Sunday afternoon from his caddie.
“I really didn’t understand why the people in the gallery were saying, ‘Do it for Mamba,’ but now I understand,” Woods said to CBS Sports. “It’s a shocker to everyone.”
Even former President Barack Obama expressed his thoughts on the loss of Bryant saying via social media: “Kobe was a legend on the court and just getting started in what would have been just as meaningful a second act. To lose Gianna is even more heartbreaking to us as parents. Michelle and I send love and prayers to Vanessa and the entire Bryant family on an unthinkable day.”
Along with being seen at NBA games over the last couple of years like at the Nets Hawks contest not too long ago, Bryant was a frequent attender of women’s basketball games often seen at them with his daughter Gianna, like the 2019 WNBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas, NV over the summer.
He recently visited the Oregon Ducks and before their famed “Civil War” tilt with their crosstown rival Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis, OR players from both teams circled at midcourt to honor the Lakers legend.
Future WNBA prospect in guard Sabrina Onescu, who was visibly hurt during a pregame moment of silence for a Bryant who become a close friend and had written on her left sneaker “Forever 24” with heart symbol on her right sneaker.
“Everything I do, I do it for him,” Ionescu said after the game to ESPN about Bryant. “Obviously, really close friend and this season is for him.”
In the early stages of Bryant’s playing career, one lady who frequently interviewed him after games was Lisa Guerrero, who is now an investigative reporter for “Inside Edition.”
Guerrero, who worked for FOX Sports Net in L.A. back in the early 2000s said that Bryant always treated her with “kindness and respect.”
She added “He was acutely aware of the difficulties I faced as a female in the locker room. Years later I ran into Kobe and he said that he loved that I was doing ‘Inside Edition’ investigations. In fact, he told me quote, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ My heart goes out to his family and all the families of the other victims today.”
Another female reporter who frequently covered Bryant during his playing days was ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne, who said on Sunday that when she became a mother not too long ago who frequently get phone calls from Bryant checking in on her seeing how this new chapter of her life was going.
Ever since this blogger began watching NBA hoops and became a big fan going back to 1993-94, I never really had a favorite player or someone I can say I could identify with. Kobe Bryant became that player for me, especially in the years that he was winning titles.
What really drew me into him was the commitment and determination he displayed in becoming great. The honest and never settling time and energy he put into his craft.
More than anything what I admired about him was when he strayed from his better half and how that moment of indiscretion could have ended his marriage to Vanessa, he first apologized to the world with her by his side. Bryant and his better half, who he’s known since she was 17 and working as a background dancer, put in the work to repair the trust between them, and that has resulted in a marriage that was stronger than ever till his passing on Sunday and four daughters, with one gone also gone way too soon at the start of this week.
On Sunday, the NBA and the world at large said goodbye way too soon to Kobe Bean Bryant, a guy who went from someone who went to his senior prom with singer and actress Brandy Norwood to a basketball legend, affluent in Spanish and Italian, a wonderful husband, father, mentor, and budding entrepreneur.
He had talent that was matched by a drive and determination that made him even more special. It made him a draw that celebrities to the token basketball fan want to catch in person at an NBA arena or on television. He was the engine that helped get the U.S.A. basketball back to the top in 2008 and again in 2012. He brought the Lakers back to the top of the NBA mountain and four other times after. He built a reputation, a family and a business on hard work and joy of being great.
His passing is another example of never taking life for granted. Always bringing your best to the table because you never know when it might be your last. Kobe Bryant did that and left an ever-lasting impression on those who either saw them up close or from a far and inspired them to be great in whatever they do, and to never cheat yourself or those you are around from your family to your friends.
“It’s really gonna just make us work a lot harder to really embody the ‘Mamba Mentality’ and everything he stood for. Just work so much harder to embrace that, and be examples of what he was,” Lower Merion senior Bridget McCann said to Ryan.
Information and quotations are courtesy of 1/26/2020 www.nba.com stories, “Los Angeles Lakers Legend Kobe Bryant Dies at 41 In Helicopter Crash,” by Greg Beacham of “The Associated Press,” “Twitter Reacts: Kobe Bryant’s passing” and “NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s Statement on Passing of Kobe Bryant,” 1/26/2020 6 p.m. game “Boston Celtics versus New Orleans Pelicans,” on ESPN presented by State Farm with Mark Jones, Hubie Brown, and Jorge Sedano; 1/26/2020 8:30 p.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter,” with Kenny Mayne and John Anderson; 1/27/2020 Newsday stories “NBA Legend Bryant, Daughter Killed,” by “The Associated Press”; “A Full Life After NBA,” by Michael O’Keefe; “In A State of Shock Over Loss of NBA Icon,” by Barbara Barker;” and “Tributes to Kobe Dominate Sports World;” 1/27/2020 6:30 p.m. edition of “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell;” 1/27/2020 7 p.m. edition of “Inside Edition,” with Deborah Norville on WCBS, with reports from Victoria Recano and Lisa Guerrero; 1/27/2020 9 p.m. NBATV news crawl; 1/28/2020 6 a.m. edition of CNN Headline News’ “Morning Express with Robin Meade;” 1/28/2020 10 a.m. edition of “The Tamron Hall Show,” with Tamron Hall on WABC 7; 1/28/2020 4 p.m. edition of WABC “Eyewitness News First at 4” with David Navarro, Liz Cho and weather anchor Lee Goldberg, with report from weekend sports anchor Sam Ryan; https://en.m.wikpedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant; and https://www.espn.com/nba/standings.
