Mourning the Loss of Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant, Daughter and Seven Others Killed in Helicopter Crash

The basketball world, and others, are mourning the loss of a legend this morning. Kobe Bryant and eight other people, including one of his teenage daughters, were killed in a helicopter crash Sunday in California.

“The most important thing is you must put everybody on notice, ‘I’m here to be an all-time great.’” Words basketball legend Kobe Bryant lived up to in his short 41 years of life. Today, one of the greatest basketball players to ever take the court is gone.

“It’s very difficult for me to put in words how i feel about the loss of kobe Bryant,” said former Los Angeles Lakers team mate Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Kobe Bryant, who spent his entire 20-year professional career with the Los Angeles Lakers died in a helicopter crash Sunday. Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were traveling by helicopter to the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks for a basketball game. Their chopper crashed roughly 30-miles outside of downtown Los Angeles.

“Our firefighters on scene indicated that there was a debris field and steep terrain with a quarter acre brush fire that was occurring, at the time,” said Chief Daryl Osby with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

In addition to the Bryants, seven other people were on board. There were no survivors.

“I just talked to him like two weeks ago, so it was like, even more crazy. I don’t really know what to say, really. He was just a great player,” said Michael Beasley, a former Los Angeles Laker.

“His impact on the game and players and coaches, everybody individually is going to be missed and it can’t be replaced,” said Damian Lillard with the Portland Trailblazers.

Bryant, who scored more than 33,000 points in his career, was 41 years old.