Kobe Bryant death’s shocked entire world. The tragic helicopter crash took away nine passengers life including Kobe Bryant and his 13 years old daughter Gianna. The NBA players had a very tough day yesterday at in the tournament since the legend’s death news broke out a day before. The NBA players wore Nike shoes with “RIP Kobe” and “RIP Gigi” scrawled on their feet.
At the afternoon match-up between the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs, Toronto’s Fred VanVleet won the opening tip off and casually dribbled into Spurs territory, where he stopped and held the ball until the 24-second shot clock ran out. It was to honor Bryant, who had worn numbers 24 and 8 in his career. Fans cheered and chanted “Kobe.” When the Spurs got the ball, they also let the clock run out for 24 seconds.
Other teams similarly started their games with shot-clock violations to remember Bryant.
Several players wore their tributes scrawled on their sneakers, many of them wearing shoes from Bryant’s signature line with Nike, his sponsor since 2003.
Lonzo Ball, a guard for the Pelicans, had “RIP Kobe” and “RIP Gianna” written on his Nike shoes,Josh Hart sported Nike’s with a memoriam to Bryant printed on the sole. the Los Angeles Clippers and Austin Rivers of the Houston Rockets also had tribute messages on their feet.
Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks wrote Bryant’s name on his shoes and swapped his usual number 11 to wear Bryant’s 8 at the start of his team’s game against the Washington Wizards.
The remembrances of Bryant weren’t restricted to basketball. Last night’s Grammy awards also honoured his memory.
Bryant left a huge, at times complicated, legacy. He even won an Oscar for an animated short film he co-created based on the poem he wrote when he retired from the NBA in 2015. It described his passion for basketball from the time he was a child, and ended with the words, “Love you always, Kobe.” The game loved him back.
