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Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday. Several US media, including the sports portal ESPN, as well as the city of Calabasas, where the accident happened, confirmed the crash of the helicopter with five occupants. First, the US portal TMZ.com reported about the death of the 41-year-old. The fire department said there were no survivors on board.
26.01.2020 21.13
Online since today, 21.13
(Update: 9.45pm)
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Bryant played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1996 to 2016 and won five championships in the world’s best basketball league (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010). The nearly two-meter-tall Shooting Guard was selected 15 times in the NBA All Star team – no one succeeded more often.
In 2006 Bryant scored 81 points in one match. His total of 33,643 points in regular season games are only surpassed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and LeBron James – the latter only moved past Bryant in third place on the leaderboard on Saturday.
Hollywood-style career end
Even though Bryant could not continue his heyday at the end of his career and missed the play-offs with LA again and again, he still managed to achieve a Hollywood-style sporting end. At the age of 37 he triumphed again in his last game with 60 points and was celebrated in the golden confetti rain by stars like Lakers-Edelfan Jack Nicholson, Jay-Z and David Beckham.
“How many children can say that they were allowed to play for their favorite team and spend their entire careers there?” Bryant said afterwards. “You can’t write this story any better.” The 41-year-old leaves behind his wife Vanessa and four daughters.
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