Let us take a trip back to six years ago. The date was January 26, 2020. It was a normal day for all intents and purposes. The Los Angeles Lakers at the time finished a 10-day, five-game road trip. The end of the trip the day before was disappointing, as the Philadelphia 76ers dismantled the Lakers 108-91. It was also the night that LeBron James eclipsed Lakers legend Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the all-time NBA scoring list…ironically in Kobe’s hometown.
As they approached LA, the news trickled in. It hit every part of the sports world like a horrible tidal wave. There was a helicopter crash near Calabasas, California, which claimed the life of nine individuals. John, Alyssa, and Keri Altobelli. Sarah and Payton Chester. Christina Mauser. Pilot Ara Zobayan. The last two casualties made the sports world grind to a halt: Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
Many in the sports world couldn’t believe the news. Everyone was expecting it to be some kind of false report. However, it became clear very quickly that this wasn’t a hoax. On the plane back to LA, then coach of the Lakers, Frank Vogel, was looking over the game tape from the Lakers’ defeat at the hands of the 76ers. As Vogel watched clip after clip of the Sixers dismantling his squad, he was approached by Lakers director of media relations Alison Bogli. She had seen a news report on her phone: Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter accident. “There was that uncomfortable time, feeling like, ‘This is a crazy report,’” Vogel says. “Like, ‘This is not true. There’s no way.’ My expectation was to hear that it was a false report.” Bogli, whose Lakers career dates back to the late 1990s, was texting with team personnel back in California, trying to gather information. It wasn’t long, sources say, before Lakers controlling owner and president Jeanie Buss replied. It was true. Kobe was gone.
Tributes poured in across the sports spectrum. At the time, the NFL Pro Bowl was about to start, and the NFL stars were about to leave the locker room when they got the word about Kobe’s death. Yes, he had nothing to do with the sport, but the reactions from the NFL players showed that even they held Kobe in high regard. Stars like Lamar Jackson and Drew Brees had so much respect and admiration for Kobe as a person and a player. Even NFL legend Peyton Manning gave a touching tribute to a man he felt lucky enough to call his friend. Many NBA teams started the next game on their schedule by taking either a 24 second shot clock violation or an 8 second back court violation in honor of Kobe for both of his jersey numbers.
One of the most memorable tributes came, not just from LeBron James (who initially thought the news was some bad prank), but also from two other NBA greats: Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan. O’Neal had a complicated relationship with Kobe during their playing career but had seemed to mend fences in the later parts of their lives. Shaq commented to his fellow NBA commentators that he hadn’t felt a pain like this in a long time. Despite their strong personalities, O’Neal commented that, once it was game time, they were ready and told each other, “Let’s go whoop some ass.”
Jordan is considered one of the greatest of all time who Kobe looked up to and admired, with both men forging an impactful friendship. Jordan was reduced to tears as he spoke at the ceremony celebrating Kobe and Gigi’s lives. He spoke of Kobe as a dear friend even as tears rolled down his face. Kobe looked up to Jordan, as many people in that era of the NBA did, and while many always drawn the comparisons between Bryant and Jordan…it was Jordan’s desire to talk about just Kobe, who he treated as a little brother. Jordan concluded the speech by saying: “When Kobe died, a piece of me died.”
Then came what was probably the most emotional game in the Lakers’ history: their first after Kobe’s passing. After many touching tributes, it was finally time to hear from LeBron James, one of the center pieces of the Lakers in the 2020’s. LeBron took the microphone to speak to all Lakers fans saying that he had a speech and was going to read it. However, instead, James told the crowd, “Laker Nation, man, I would be selling y’all short if I read off this s—t, so I’m going to go straight from the heart.” James praised Kobe for his enduring legacy, for being a role model for so many, and for being a good father and husband to his family in a moving tribute. In that game, the Lakers all paid tribute to their late idol by wearing either Kobe’s No. 8 or No. 24 jersey.
A lot can be said about Gigi as well. She was working hard, wanting to be a great player herself. Gigi’s preferred choice for college was the University of Connecticut, who was blazing a historic streak under coach Geno Auriemma. At the celebration of Kobe and Gigi’s lives, Auriemma spoke about how Kobe called him for tips on coaching his daughter’s basketball team. He gave a lighthearted joke about how Kobe, infamous for being “uncoachable” by many, wanted to talk to him about coaching. Auriemma also talked about the excitement that Gianna showed while visiting UConn, where she had hoped to play basketball one day. “Gianna passed the ball when she was open. I thought, ‘She is not listening to her father,’” Auriemma said jokingly.
It’s pretty evident that Kobe’s legacy wasn’t just on the NBA, but the WNBA as well. His support for women’s basketball and its athletes meant a lot to many WNBA players. Diana Taurasi, considered by many as the “White Mamba”, spoke about also at the celebration. Taurasi found herself doing all in her power to imitate Kobe’s work ethic and admired his work ethic and drive. She spoke about how Gigi definitely inherited her father’s skills.
Fellow WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu also grew up wanting to be as competitive as Kobe and spoke at the celebration as well. Ionescu, considered by some as Kobe’s heir apparent, said Gianna had a better fadeaway jump shot than she does. “If I represent present-day women’s basketball, Gigi represented the future,” she said. Ionescu recalled that, when it was game time, Gigi’s happy demeaner changed to that infamous gritty play that her father trademarked. One play that Ionescu saw in person, Gigi somewhat knocked down someone who grabbed her jersey and stepped over them. Ionescu recalled jokingly as Kobe told her, “I don’t know where she learned that from.”
Now, here we are, six years after that tragic day. Many in the sports world still remember Kobe and apply his patented “Mamba Mentality” to their lives, and not just to basketball. Many athletes in the NBA and WNBA still hold Kobe in high regard as their “Michael Jordan” of their generation. Today, there are two statues of Kobe outside of Crypto.com Arena, the place lovingly called “The House that Kobe Built.” The statue is of Kobe wearing the No. 8, the number he first wore with the Lakers, with another being planned of him wearing his later number, No. 24. The other statue depicts Kobe embracing Gianna while they sit on a bench, wrapped in angel wings. The NBA All-Star Game MVP Award was renamed in Kobe’s honor, and in the 2020 WNBA draft, Gianna, Alyssa, and Payton were made honorary draft picks. In 2022, the WNBA introduced an award named the Kobe & Gigi Advocacy Award: it is given out yearly to “honor someone in the basketball space for their continued advocacy for girls and women’s basketball around the country.”
The pain has not passed, and it probably never will. It probably hasn’t passed for his wife Vanessa or his daughters Natalia, Bianka, and Capri. We’ll never get to see the full impact of what Kobe had planned for the second act of his life, even though we got a glimpse of it with the Oscar Award-winning cartoon short Dear Basketball. We’ll never get to see where the game of women’s basketball would lead with Gigi leading the way. It was possibly she could have been the first woman in the NBA, and maybe even play for the Lakers like her dad. It does no good to reflect on what could have been, but it does help us to remember and never forget the impact that special people have on all our lives.
