The Lakers returned to the court Friday, 5 days after the death of franchise icon Kobe Bryant, his child and 7 other individuals in a helicopter crash in Southern California.
Everywhere the team looked within and outside Staples Center, there were reminders of the catastrophe– and Bryant’s stature.
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Celebratory jerseys showing 8 or 24, Bryant’s consistent numbers, were curtained over every seat in the arena hours prior to tipoff.
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There was a homage to Bryant and his 13- year-old child, Gianna “GiGi” Bryant, on a marquee near the players’ entryway.
The purple-and-gold memorial to Bryant outside the arena advised them how fans have actually been impacted.
When they came out to the court for warmups using Bryant shirseys and after that jerseys, they made sure to observe the courtside seats scheduled for Kobe and Gianna, with daddy and child’s jerseys showed (Kobe Bryant was coaching Gianna, who was a budding basketball gamer. They were flying to one of her games when the helicopter crashed into a remote hillside in Calabasas, Calif., on Sunday early morning.)
Beginning around 10: 30 p.m. ET, there will be a pregame event to honor Bryant, Gianna and the other crash victims. The Lakers were set up to play Tuesday versus the competing Clippers, however the game was delayed as the Lakers company handled its sorrow. That made Friday the franchise’s first full- scale public reaction to Bryant’s death.