As a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James is just the latest in a long line of great athletes to don the Purple and Gold.
And while his experience has been more than satisfactory so far, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t endured some rough moments since joining the club back in 2019.
As James would go on to detail in an episode of ‘Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers,’ Bryant’s passing in January 2020 was a particularly brutal moment for him and his team.
LeBron James Reveals How The Lakers Reacted To Kobe Bryant’s Death
As he later revealed, the team bus was full of broken hearts and musty eyes in the aftermath of the horrifying news.
“Anthony looked like someone pulled his soul from him. Nobody had their color and all of us kinda broke down in tears. It was one of the longest flights I ever been on.”
LeBron James on @kobebryant passing:
“Anthony looked like someone pulled his soul from him. Nobody had their color & All of us kinda broke down in tears. It was one of the longest flights I ever been on,” Says @KingJames.#LakeShow #LakersDoc #LakersNation #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/NprJKaBGh8
— Landon Buford (@LandonBuford) October 10, 2022
It was a really crushing moment for thousands of fans across the world, but, as Lakers, Davis and LeBron had an almost special connection to Kobe. They knew what he meant to the city; they knew how special he was to so many people. At that moment, you can’t blame the Lakers for showing some humanity and breaking down after hearing of Kobe’s accident.
Obviously, though, they were not the only ones to feel the impact of his loss.
“I see the Kobe thing. So now I’m like, it gotta be a hoax,” said Shaquille O’Neal on Bryant’s passing. “Because I was watching the game when Bron passed him up, probably just somebody messing around on the internet and then the calls just kept coming in and then you go watch TV. And it just hit. It put me in a ‘I should have’ mode. I should have spent more time with my sister. I should have reached out to the young fella, I should’ve just called and just check on him, I should’ve. And you know things like that you can never get back, right?”
Today, Kobe’s life and career are still being celebrated daily by the countless people he got to touch personally during his time here on earth.
And while many of us have ‘moved on’ at least a little bit since the 2020 crash, nobody is going to forget who Bryant was, or where they were when they first heard of his tragic and untimely death.
