Amayzine

Kobe Bryant: the basketball legend, what you need and want to know

kobe bryant with his daughter

Last night my WhatsApp suddenly exploded. ‘Have you read it?’ ‘Wow, check the news now’, and especially: ‘KOBE BRYANT’. Since I wasn't much wiser from this, I raced to my laptop to see what was going on. I actually thought everyone wanted to tell me that LeBron James had surpassed him on the world ranking, but was that really that important? I had to read the headline ‘Kobe Bryant killed in helicopter crash‘ four or five times before it really sank in. And I'm not even a fervent basketball fan, but this news hit me hard. And then an hour later the news that his thirteen-year-old daughter Gianna (a.k.a. Gigi) was also in the helicopter... On the way to a basketball game, together with a teammate of hers and her father. Earlier it was reported that there were five occupants in the helicopter, none of whom survived. Unfortunately, during the press conference (yesterday at two o'clock local time) it was mentioned that there were nine occupants. Terrible.

Because yes, even if you're not a hardcore basketball watcher; you know who Kobe Bryant is. I dare say he was the great basketball player of the ’90s and ’00s, until he retired in 2016. A small selection of his basketball achievements: 5-time NBA Champion, 4th highest NBA scorer of all time, 18-time NBA All-Star, 2-time NBA Finals MVP, and also won an Oscar in 2018 for his short animated film Dear Basketball, which he made in response to a love letter he wrote to the sport years earlier. By the way, this film is a must-see. The passion he had for basketball comes through so beautifully, and even after his retirement, he couldn't let go of the sport.

His daughter Gianna quickly proved to have inherited her father's talent and played basketball at a high level; Kobe was her coach. Two weeks ago, he flew two hours to the state of Washington (in the middle of nowhere, roughly) to see one of his basketball students play at his high school. Yesterday I read stories from people who had the chance to meet Kobe, and I know they say ‘nothing but good about the dead’, but with him, it was true. Everything shows that Kobe was a sincere, dedicated, and good person. A look at his Instagram also tells you that he was quite the family man, with many proud pictures of his kids and wife Vanessa.

Here in the Netherlands, basketball may not be as big as in America, where Kobe Bryant had long had his own meme. Kids in high school have been throwing their crumpled paper into the trash while shouting ‘KOBE!’ for years. This trend started in 2010, and I guess it's going to make a big comeback now. Unfortunately, for a very sad reason.

Twitter was, of course, flooded with messages of support, including from many celebrities. Leonardo DiCaprio, Khloé Kardashian, Barack Obama, and John Legend are just a few who spoke out.