NBA: Goodbye Kobe Bryant

As reported by the TMZ news portal, NBA legend Kobe Bryant was killed in a fatal accident aboard a helicopter. The ship, Sikorsky S-76E, crashed in the mountains of Calabasas, California, and while the causes of the fatal accident are still unknown, the fog could be one of the factors.

A total of eight people were traveling aboard the helicopter, including Bryant's 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore, all died, and so far the other victims have not yet been identified. The ship in which the incident occurred was owned by the former player, and for several years he used to use it. At the time of the accident the occupants were heading to the basketball academy, which is near the town of Thousand Oaks, California, according to RT.

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A career of successes

Kobe Bryant started in the NBA in 1996 and throughout his career he played for Los Angeles Lakers. It was there that he won important victories as the Most Valuable Player (MVP in English), "two of the highest scorer and two of MVP in finals", according to Univisión.

He also managed to obtain two gold medals in the Olympics (2008 and 2012) and win the NBA league five times, in a sports race that ended in 2016. Despite being the fourth highest scorer of all time and of Performing 33,643 points, the Lakers star failed to see his name in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Although his name was among a list of fifty possible candidates, the finalists will be announced in the All-Star Game, which will run from February 14 to 16, and those names of the winners will be revealed in the Final Four of the University Championship, which will be held from April 4 to 6.

In fact, Bryant had been overtaken hours before his death by Lebron James, current player of the Lakers squad, and who on Saturday night January 25 managed to score 33,644 points. Given this, Bryant congratulated his former partner for his great achievement, "The game continues to move forward, much respect my brother," also as James recalled on Saturday night, both players were very close and for him, Bryant was one of the best players and whom he admired.

After his retirement, Bryant became the women's sports ambassador, especially in the WNBA, when he appeared in several commercials and events associated with women's American basketball. Also, he expanded his reach in 2018 thanks to his animated short film “Dear Basketball” and for ESPN he created the “Detail” web series, in which he analyzes the current players in the league.

The sport is in mourning

Not only basketball fans, nor its players, lamented and presented their condolences, but also other athletes, celebrities and even the former US president expressed his sadness over the loss of the player: