NBA legend Kobe Bryant confirmed dead in helicopter crash Instagram: @kobebryantNBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter passed away on January 26 after being involved in a fatal helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. According to an article from TMZ Sports, the 41-year-old was traveling with his second-oldest daughter Gianna Maria and six other passengers when the helicopter went down, causing a fire to break out. There were no survivors reported, and nine people have been confirmed to be deceased, including the pilot. His wife, Vanessa Bryant, was not on board. Eyewitnesses also told the news outlet that spluttering could be heard from the helicopter\u2019s engine before the fatal accident occurred. The Pennsylvania-born star played his entire 20-year basketball career with the Los Angeles Lakers and won five championships and made 18 All-Star games before he retired in April 2016. He was regarded as one of the \u201cgreatest players in the history of our game\u201d by NBA commissioner Adam Silver. His other achievements include being the 2008 NBA MVP and two-time NBA Finals MVP, as well as being awarded an Oscar for his 2018 film Dear Basketball, a short love letter dedicated to the sport. The sporting legend had famously used private helicopter travel for many years, and commuted from his home in Newport Beach, California to the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles to play matches. In 2018, Bryant invested in Epic Games under his firm $100m Bryant Stibel, and also put money into an esports training ground at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California. Bryant\u2019s daughter Gianna \u2013 nicknamed Gigi \u2013 was also a massive basketball fan, and often attended games with her father. Earlier in January, Kobe credited her for reigniting his love of the sport following his retirement. \u201cYou know what\u2019s funny? Before Gigi got into basketball I hardly watched it, but now that\u2019s she\u2019s into basketball, we watch every night,\u201d he said on the Showtime Basketball podcast on January 8. He then revealed how they\u2019d attended a Lakers game together, and that it was the first one he\u2019d been to since his jerseys were retired in 2017. \u201cWhen I took her to the Laker game, that\u2019s the first Laker game I\u2019ve been to I think since my jersey retirement,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just had so much fun because it was the first time I was seeing the game through her eyes.\u201d (Timestamp 32:30 for mobile viewers.) Tributes for the NBA legend and Gianna poured out on social media, with many celebrities and influencers paying their respects on Twitter. \u201cRIP and prayers to his entire family and everyone affected,\u201d Fortnite star Tyler \u2018Ninja\u2018 Blevins tweeted. WWIII scares, the corona virus, now we lost Kobe to a helicopter crash? Say it aint so 2020 is horrific. RIP and prayers to his entire family and everyone affected. \u2014 Ninja (@Ninja) January 26, 2020 Twitch star Dr Disrespect was devastated by the tragedy. \u201cCompletely destroyed right now,\u201d he said. \u201cKobe Bryant, you provided so many incredible memories and inspirational moments. You were the best. RIP.\u201d \u201cWhat a terrible terrible tragedy,\u201d 100 Thieves member Jack \u2018CouRage\u2018 Dunlop said. \u201cI feel so bad for his family. RIP Kobe Bryant.\u201d Popular YouTuber and Team 10 Founder Jake Paul also shared his condolences. \u201cSending so much love to kobe\u2019s family\u2026 this s**t can\u2019t be real\u2026 so heartbreaking,\u201d he said. \u201cKobe was such a titan in our time. You knew that even if you were not a fan of basketball. He impacted so many people in a positive way,\u201d Twitch streamer Brett \u2018Dakotaz\u2018 Hoffman tweeted. \u201cTruly will be missed by the world. May he rest in peace & everyone on board.\u201d https:\/\/twitter.com\/dakotaz\/status\/1221532915609362432 FaZe Clan\u2019s Nick \u2018NICKMERCS\u2019 Kolcheff said, \u201cDamn man\u2026 Unbelievable news. Rest In Peace [Kobe Bryant], heart goes out to his family.\u201d Bryant is survived by his wife Vanessa and three children, daughters Natalia, Bianca, and their seven-month-old Capri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NBA legend Kobe Bryant confirmed dead in helicopter crash Instagram: @kobebryantNBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter passed away on January 26 after being involved in a fatal helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. According to an article from TMZ Sports, the 41-year-old was traveling with his second-oldest daughter Gianna Maria and six other passengers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}