The horrific deaths of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, in a helicopter crash on Sunday did not just affect those involved in the sport of basketball. It rocked the entire world. Since the gut-wrenching news, countless celebrities, athletes and fans alike have been pouring in their tributes to Bryant, and following the Pro Bowl on Sunday, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson spoke out:
“Everybody in our locker room was hurt,” Jackson said during a postgame on-field interview. “Some of us don't even know Kobe, but in our hearts, he did so much for the game. Not just the game, be he touched everyone in different ways. It's hurtful to see something like that happen to a great guy like that.”
Bryant famously entered the NBA as a raw 17-year-old out of high school in 1996, joining the team he grew up rooting for as a child: the Los Angeles Lakers.
The future Hall-of-Famer (Bryant will actually be inducted this year) teamed up with Shaquille O'Neal to form one of the most dominant duos in NBA history, and while there were some rough patches early on, it didn't take long for Bryant and O'Neal to start running the league.
By Bryant's fourth season, he was an NBA champion, which marked the first of three straight Lakers titles between 2000 and 2002.
No other team has three-peated since.
Bryant then added a couple of more rings to his resume later on in his career, winning back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.
The Mamba will forever live on as a legend, both on and off the court.
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