Remembering Kobe: "Legends never die"
Kobe Bryant brought joy and led by example on and off the court. One year after his tragic death, the basketball legend's legacy continues to live on.
Basketball
Kobe Bryant may be gone, but Black Mamba mentality lives on.
One of the greatest in the NBA, father, leader, winner, guiding light... Kobe was many things to many people, and a year after his death, the healing goes on as he continues to inspire.
On 26 January 2020 Bryant died in a helicopter crash at 41 years of age, with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people.
The crash that shook the world of basketball and beyond saw tributes pour in from across the globe and now, a year later, his legacy only grows larger with time.
"There's a lot of things that die in this world but legends never die" - LeBron James
Kobe won five NBA titles with the Lakers and two Olympic gold medals, but what he left behind goes way beyond that.
When the Lakers won the team's record-tying 17th NBA Championship last season, they did it for Kobe.
“One, two, three, Mamba!” was the chant in the huddle before the final game, while back in Los Angeles, fans flooded the streets chanting “Kobe! Kobe!”
“Ever since the tragedy, we wanted to do it for him, and we didn’t want to let him down,” said Anthony Davis after their victory over the Miami Heat in October.
Davis and LeBron were close to Kobe, they won Olympic gold together at London 2012.
“I know he’s looking down on us and proud of us, I know Vanessa (Bryant’s wife) is proud of us, the organisation is proud of us. It means a lot to us. He was a big brother to all of us and we did this for him.”
Now, a year after the tragic accident, Kobe's flame still burns bright, and remembering him has become a constant ritual.
"Legends never die" - LeBron James
Before the first anniversary of Bryant's death, LeBron James reflected on the remarkable legacy that Kobe left behind.
“Us being able to remember him and wear the [Black Mamba] jerseys during the postseason and have the postseason success we had, as you guys saw with those uniforms. We got a lot of guys that wear his shoes still to this day,” James said.
Kobe's passing, along with his daughter Gianna and the seven others, is still raw for many. The LA Lakers will not mark the anniversary with a formal event as the pain is still so traumatic for the Bryant family.
Instead, the team will honour him informally;
“I’m able to wear the 2-4 on my finger every night, and when we play at Staples Center you see that 8-24 in the rafters and be able to just live his legacy on," continues LeBron.
"There’s a lot of things that die in this world, but legends never die, and he’s exactly that.”
"I know I still have trouble with it" - Anthony Davis
Finding closure and coming to terms with Kobe's death has been a struggle for many who were close to him, and both Davis and LeBron spoke out about the healing process.
"Man, it's a saying that time heals all," James said after a win over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday (23 January).
"And as devastating and as tragic as it was and still is to all of us involved with it, only time. And it takes time. Everyone has their own grieving process."
"As we approach his one-year anniversary, it saddens our hearts to actually come to the realization that he's gone," Davis said.
"I know I still have trouble with it, you still just can't believe it."
Davis also talked about Kobe's legacy transcending the world of sport.
"You know he reached the basketball community, inspired the basketball community... I knew was known and popular but I didn't know he impacted so many people's lives outside of basketball, from soccer to football to people and players overseas to people who don't even play sports, all talking about the Mamba mentality, I didn't know how impactive he was worldwide." - Anthony Davis
Focus on the player, not the tragedy
"To this day, it's, 'Mamba on three!' anytime we bring it in because we still want to recognise that he's a part of our organisation," Davis said.
"And ever since the tragedy happened, we had a mindset that this is bigger than, you know, ourselves."
But James and others never want to talk about the circumstances of Bryant's death:
"I try not to put myself back in that headspace, because it's just too dark, for not only myself but for our organization and for everyone that's involved in it."
Spanish centre Pau Gasol says something similar.
"I'm not comfortable talking about it," Gasol said. "I'm sorry. Still to this day, I have never really talked about it."
Instead, they talk about the player he was, the man he was, and the presence he still is.
Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan
Bryant the player is easy to talk about, and the Jordan/Bryant debate just proves how much he gave, how much he achieved.
Michael Jordan set the standard, and Bryant was constantly compared to him, but Kobe just always did Kobe.
"I only looked at Kobe for him," LeBron James said.
"And obviously you've seen a lot of the similarities between him and Mike, but I appreciated Kobe's game for Kobe's game. The way he played the game, the finesse that he played with, the ballhandling capabilities, the shooting, everything that he possessed on the floor - I respected him for who he was as a player and what he was able to bring onto the floor.
"The fact that he was able to take some things from MJ and look at some of MJ's DNA and actually be able to do it -- a lot of people try to do that, a lot of people wish they could take things from some of the greats, implement them into their game and then be successful, they just can't. They don't have the ability to do it. They don't have the drive to do it, the mindset to do it. But he actually did it and did it at a high level for a long, long, long time. And you can respect that."
Davis says that Kobe is still driving the team to a repeat title win this season, one that would take the Lakers to 18 NBA championships, one more than the Boston Celtics as the greatest franchise in history.
"When the tragedy happened, it was more so, you know, 'Let's do it for him,'" Davis said.
"And that's what we ended up doing all last year... We know we fought to the end for a purpose, and it wasn't just for ourselves. It was for the Bryant family. And we were able to get that accomplished."
Kobe and the world
Kobe continues to inspire people to keep fighting and keep grinding on and off the court.
Bryant worked with numerous charities, as a coach to his daughter's basketball team, championed the rise of women's basketball and the WNBA, and left his mark on the business and entertainment industries.
In 2018 he won an Academy Award for his animated short film 'Dear Basketball'.
As time passes, the scope and scale of Bryant's impact gets clearer, and one of the most visible expressions of the power of his legacy is in the hundreds of street art pieces that have popped up on walls across the planet.
Over 430 murals have appeared in at least 30 countries, showing the love for all he represented.
From Los Angeles to Luta Del Sur in the Philippines, Thessalonica in Greece, to The Drop in Kampala, Uganda, and on to Istanbul, Johor, Chenxi, Port Au-Prince, Grenoble, Malaysia and Mexico City...
Kobe Bryant touched the world.
Kobe Bryant at the Olympics
Bryant rocked the Olympics too, and the Games were important to him.
When Team USA were knocked out in the semi-finals at the Athens 2004 Olympics by Argentina's 'Golden Generation', without Kobe, he took it personally.
"There was a lot of beauty in the loss, because it means that the game we love is growing... but at the same time it was like, 'OK, that's beautiful, but now we want it back," Bryant told us in 2015.
"(Beijing) 2008 was about reclaiming what we started. We couldn't wait to get after it and challenge for that gold medal.... for us it was a shot at redemption."
Bryant was clutch at the Beijing Games, posting 20 points and six assists in an unforgettable final as Team USA defeated Spain 118-107 to reclaim the gold medal.
"It was something that was very personal to us to put our country back on top. It's a different feeling playing for your country. When you're playing in the NBA you're playing for a particular city, but when you're playing for your country those lines go away. It carries a great honour that goes above and beyond winning the NBA Championship." - Kobe
"His first day of practice when that team got together that summer, he set the tone," then USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo told Bleacher Report.
"The ball was up in the air, it hit the floor, and he dove for a loose ball, and there it was. That was the beginning."
Kobe to inspire at Tokyo 2020
But gold at Beijing wasn't enough for Kobe; he was again instrumental when the USA won gold at London 2012.
He took a lot from the Olympics, he saw the bigger picture outside basketball, and talked about his appreciation for the Olympians around him.
"For me, that's even more special than being out in LA and seeing celebrities walking around, because it's athlete to athlete," Bryant shared with us in 2015
"I understand what they put their body through to get there, and so there's so much mutual respect and admiration."
The Olympic movement appreciates him too, IOC President Thomas Bach wrote this on Twitter after he passed:
"Kobe was an outstanding and true Olympic champion. He embraced the power of sport to change people's lives."
Now with the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Games coming up in July 2021, and big stars like LeBron ready to play for the USA's fourth straight Olympic title, Kobe will be present again, guiding and inspiring all the way.