Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna among 9 dead in helicopter crash
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Kobe and Gianna Bryant. Photo: Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images.
NBA legend Kobe Bryant, 41, and his daughter Gianna, 13, died in a helicopter crash over Calabasas, California, on Sunday morning, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The big picture: A Philadelphia native, Bryant won five NBA championships and made 18 All-Star teams. He retired following the 2015–2016 season and is widely recognized as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. The Lakers retired both of his jerseys — numbers 8 and 24 — following his departure.
- Bryant had been married to Vanessa Laine Bryant since 2001. Together they'd had four daughters: Gianna, Natalia, Bianka and Capri.
- His daughter Gianna was a rising basketball player herself and had been seen attending NBA games with her father.
- Bryant had gone on to run Granity Studios, a multimedia sports content company, and a venture capital firm called Bryant Stibel.
- He also won an Academy Award in 2018 for his animated short "Dear Basketball."
What we know: Bryant was traveling on a private S-76 helicopter. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has confirmed 9 people on board died in the crash, but the cause of the crash was yet to be determined.
- Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told a news conference Sunday night that fog had left visibility in the area poor at the time of the crash and his department had no helicopters in the air then "because of the weather."
- The Federal Aviation Administration tweeted Sunday that it and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash.
Players at the San Antonio Spurs v. Toronto Raptors game Sunday let the shot clock run out following tip-off in honor of Bryant's number — 24 —just hours after his and Gianna's passing.
Grammys dedication: The Staples Center, where the Lakers play, hosted the Grammy Awards Sunday evening.
- The ceremony opened with a tribute to Bryant from singer Lizzo.
- Host Alicia Keys dedicated the event to his memory and sang an a-capella version of "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye" with Boyz II Men.
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