Bryant, five-time NBA champion with Los Angeles Lakers, his lifelong club, died Sunday morning in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, southern California, according to the American celebrity news site. TMZ.
The basketball player, father of four, was aboard his private helicopter with four other people when the helicopter fell suddenly before igniting. Her 13 year old daughter, Gianna Maria, was also on the trip. No one survived the crash. The cause of the accident is not yet known.
The helicopter crash was confirmed by the Los Angeles Times, without mentioning the identity of the victims. But while neither the Lakers nor the North American Basketball League confirmed this information, a terrible screed had descended on the NBA.
#update Downed aircraft is a helicopter. Flames extinguished. #Malibu deputies at crash site looking for survivors, 4200 blk Las Virgenes Rd #Calabasas #LASD pic.twitter.com/eixLhGhLyE
– LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) January 26, 2020
A few minutes after the announcement of Bryant’s death, NBA TV turned its programs upside down to evoke its memory and, unlike the Denver-Houston game which will be played well, the maintenance of seven other games of the day has become very hypothetical, in awaiting the dreaded confirmation.
“Sixteen teams are in the running today, all of their players have grown up dreaming of becoming one day like him, or like Michael Jordan before him. We are talking about this generation of players marked by this icon who seems to have left too early. It’s difficult, “said former coach Stan Van Gundy on the official channel of the instance.
On the set, his former teammate Brian Shaw who had won the hat-trick with him (2001, 2002, 2003) struggled to hold back his tears. On social media, the emotional tsunami has only just begun. “No Please! It can’t be true !! ”tweeted Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.
Former NBA super star and 5-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant is reportedly among the five people confirmed dead, after the helicopter they were traveling crashed in #Calabasas , Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/2DYAx2p3yx
– News_Executive (@News_Executive) January 26, 2020
“(His wife) Janet and I have no words to describe the shock and sadness we feel after the accidental death of Kobe Bryant. Prayers for him and his family, “wrote the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky.
The man nicknamed “Black Mamba” was one of the seven players to have scored more than 30,000 career points and one of the idols of LeBron James, who overtook him on Saturday in 3rd place in the ranking of the best scorers of the NBA during the Lakers’ defeat in Philadelphia.
“Kobe was immortal offensively because of his ability (to score a lot). And here I am here in Philadelphia, wearing the (same) Lakers jersey. The universe sometimes causes these things … It’s not supposed to have a meaning, but lo, it just happens, “said LBJ, moved, Saturday evening after the meeting played in the city of Pennsylvania where Bryant has born on August 23, 1978.
Retired from the public prosecutor’s office since 2016 after twenty seasons dealing with the summits of world basketball as few have done before him, Bryant is the only one to have his two jerseys, at numbers 8 and 24, hanging on the ceiling of the Staples Center, in the company of other legends of the franchise, such as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar or Shaquille O’Neal.
The death of the man who also gleaned two Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012 with Team USA comes 25 days after the death of David Stern, the former “commissioner” of the NBA who had made him prosper and become a global brand. And who understood that American basketball would become popular like never before, thanks to geniuses like Kobe.
As a reminder, Kobe Bryant is:
– 5 NBA titles
– 4th best scorer in NBA history
– 2 Olympic titles with the American selection– France TV Washington (@ F2Washington) January 26, 2020
Created: 26.01.2020, 21h57
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