In the most tragic new reports of 2020 so far, superstar basketball player Kobe Bryant is said to have died earlier today in a tragic helicopter crash. 41 years old and often compared to the legendary Michael Jordan, Bryant has basketball achievements like none other and it’s most unfortunate that his life had to come to an end in such fashion.
A legend himself, Bryant was reported to have been flying in his own private helicopter on Sunday, when a fire broke out, leading to multiple failures and the helicopter spiralling out of control before crashing in the Los Angeles Country suburb of Calabasas, California. This happened at around 10am local time and the officials have confirmed that 5 people were on board the helicopter.
What’s worse is that Kobe’s 13-year old daughter Gianna Maria Onore aka GiGi was also on board the helicopter and there are no survivors. Kobe has always used a helicopter for his travels right from early days and reports suggest that they were on their way to the Mamba Academy for a basketball practice, with the daughter also being a rising basketball star herself.
Foggy conditions may have led to low visibility which could have been one of the reasons, but the matter is currently under investigations. It brings us great sadness to write such news, considering Bryant was an 18-time NBA All-Star and was widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players to have ever been born.
Among some of his many awards through a star-studded career were winning NBA’s Most Valuable Player (2008) and also winning 2 gold medals with the USA Men’s Basketball team (2008, 2012). It was just in 2018 that the former basketball player was bestowed with an Academy Award for his short film, ‘Dear Basketball‘.
The player hung up his boots in 2016 and while the names of the others in his helicopter have not been revealed, it has been confirmed that his wife Vanessa was not on board the chopper. He will be survived by his wife and three other daughters Natalia and Bianca and Capri, the youngest being born just a few months back.
He had an extremely successful and long 20-year career, all of which he played with his team Los Angeles Lakers. On Saturday night, he toasted to former teammate LeBron James for passing him and moving on to 3rd place on the league’s all-time scoring list. Aviation accidents are not uncommon, but it hurts when such a star name is one of the victims of the same. A memorial has already been set up outside Staples Center:
Here’s his last tweet in honour of Lebron’s achievement:
Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother ?? #33644
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 26, 2020
It will be a mournful day for the Los Angeles Lakers, for the NBA as a whole and for the entire basketball and overall sporting community of the world. We wish his family our condolences and you can keep visiting ReadScoops.com for all similar updates from the sporting world.
