New York Knicks big man Julius Randle, like every NBA player right now, is struggling to cope with Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant's tragic death.

Randle “worshipped the ground” Bryant walked on. Kobe was Randle's idol growing up and the Knicks forward will always cherish the memories he has of being teammates with Bryant on the Lakers:

“For me, man, he was everything, bro,” Randle said about his former Lakers teammate, via The New York Post. “That was my childhood hero growing up. So it’s a very unfortunate situation for me, but I can’t imagine what his family is going through, all the families that are involved. So my prayers are with them. He’s a mamba, so it’s everything.

“He’s like a big brother for me. For me, like I said, it was everything because I grew up idolizing him. You can’t say anything bad about him. I worship the ground that he walked on. To be able to be in LA and establish a relationship with him was amazing for me.”

Randle, wearing the messages “GOAT 24 Rest easy bro” and “Legends Live Forever 8” on his sneakers, scored 22 points on Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets. New York is his second team since leaving the Lakers in the summer of 2018.

The Lakers legend will live on forever in the NBA and it's not a stretch to say every player in the league is going to dedicate the rest of their season to Kobe.