On January 26, 2020, a horrific tragedy happened that shocked the whole world. NBA legend, Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant, Payton Chester, Sarah Chester, Alyssa Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, John Altobelli, Christina Mauser, and Ara Zobayan lost their lives in a helicopter crash while they were all on their way to a basketball game. The death of these nine victims stunned the world.
Kobe Bryant was very inspirational to people everywhere. He was an amazing person on and off the court. Kobe always tried to help the ones who needed help. He also cared for others, and he put his family first.
Kobe Bryant is known as one of the greatest NBA players to play the game. Here are some career accomplishments for Kobe Bryant:
Spent 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers
The youngest player in NBA history at the time of his debut in 1996
5 time NBA Champion (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, & 2010)
2 time NBA Finals MVP (2009 & 2010)
Regular season NBA MVP (2008)
18 time NBA All-Star (17 consecutive selections)
1997 Slam Dunk Champion
12 All-Defensive team selections
2 Olympic Gold Medals (Team USA 2008 & 2012)
81 points vs. Raptors (2nd most scored in an NBA game)
12 three-pointers vs. Seattle (most threes in a game)
Scoring Champion (2007)
Kobe had many accomplishments on and off the court. During his amazing NBA career, he decided to change his numbers. Bryant wore number 8 for 10 seasons and changed his number to 24 for the rest of his NBA career. Although he had an amazing career wearing both numbers, statistics say he did better the second half of his career while wearing number 24 for the Lakers.
After a successful 20-season NBA career, Kobe finally made his decision to retire in 2016. After a 107-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers, Bryant addressed the media, saying that he made his decision “a while” ago.
On December 18, 2017, the Los Angeles Lakers retired both number 8 and number 24 for Kobe Bryant. Some of the Lakers greats were in attendance for the jersey retirement of Bryant. After his speech, he said, “Mamba Out.” That has stuck with him and the NBA ever since.
After retiring from basketball, Kobe still wasn’t done inspiring people. On April 23, 2017, “Dear Basketball” was released. “Dear Basketball” is an animated short film about Kobe Bryant's career and him announcing his retirement from the NBA. In 2018, Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the Oscar Awards.
After the shocking death of the Lakers legend, basketball teams all over the world paid tribute to him. Before the games started, teams took a 24-second, moment of silence to honor Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, and the seven other victims who lost their lives in the helicopter crash. Once the games started, one team took a 24-second shot clock violation, and the other team would take an 8-second backcourt violation, honoring Bryant with his jersey numbers. Many basketball teams got custom-made Kobe Bryant shirts to pay their respects to the late, great Kobe Bryant.
Kobe’s daughter, Gianna Bryant, had always dreamed of playing basketball at the University of Connecticut. Before the start of one of the women’s basketball games, they honored Gianna with a jersey and her number, 2, on it, and they left an empty seat on their bench.
The death of all nine of these victims shocked everyone around the world. People are still stunned after losing one of the greatest NBA players of all time, Kobe Bryant. Some people are still paying their respects to Kobe, his family, the Lakers organization, and the families of the other seven people in the horrific helicopter crash. On February 24, 2020 (2/24) A Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant was held at the Stapels Center in Los Angeles, where Kobe spent his whole NBA career at. Many people spoke at the ceremony, including the wife of Kobe Bryant and the mom of Gianna Brant, Vanessa Bryant. One of the all-time greats, Micheal Jordan also gave a speech at the ceremony. There were many other NBA players, WNBA players, women's college basketball players, and many others that Kobe inspired during his life. They celebrated the life of Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, and the other seven victims of the crash and the amazing things they had done in their life.
“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” -Kobe Bryant