NBA Rumor: Kobe Bryant Memorial
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Bill Oram: LeBron said yesterday he was “emotionally a wreck like everyone else. It was a challenging day for all of us.” But he declined to say whether he attended the memorial. His biggest takeaway was “how strong and how bold Vanessa is to stand up there the way she did.”
Tomer Azarly: Paul George on Kobe Bryant memorial – “I’m not good with that kind of stuff, so I didn’t go, but I watched every second of it on TV. It’s just remarkable, his journey, his career, the people he touched… It’s on us to continue that legacy… I’m forever moved by it.” #Clippers
Tomer Azarly: Paul George on Kobe Bryant memorial – “I’m not good with that kind of stuff, so I didn’t go, but I watched every second of it on TV. It’s just remarkable, his journey, his career, the people he touched… It’s on us to continue that legacy… I’m forever moved by it.” #Clippers
Every detail for the event itself had been approved by Vanessa and the Bryant family, a source says. Just after 11 a.m. PT, Vanessa is introduced, and the crowd erupts, immediately rising to its feet. She has been widowed for 30 days, and she walks with a resolved stride toward the lectern.
A source close to the family says the most important thing to them was that the day focused not only on Kobe, but on Gianna — that she didn’t get lost in the mix. Vanessa opened by speaking about her daughter, and the next three speakers — Taurasi, Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu, UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma — were all from the sport Gianna loved and pursued.
Minutes after the ceremony ends, Shaquille O’Neal — who won three titles with Bryant, who warred with Bryant but then grew closer to him as they both aged — bounds out of his chair. As attendees make their way toward the exits, O’Neal approaches Bryant’s father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, who rises from his chair. The two embrace in a long hug.
“It’s just been a very heavy month. It’s everywhere,” Rivers said of Los Angeles, which has been grieving since the helicopter crash that killed Kobe and Gianna Bryant and seven others on Jan. 26. “There’s days you get away from it — like, the games are great now because you’re focused on the games — but you know, it’s just … it’s broken or just broken-hearted. “It’s been a broken-hearted city. Probably something I’ve never seen before, ever, anywhere, and it’s still there a little bit, for sure. But today will help.”
“I don’t know how Vanessa did it,” said Rivers, who had dinner with Kobe Bryant, his friend and former adversary, in January. “I don’t know how that was possible. I thought Michael, like, if you could pick one representation of Kobe, they picked a perfect … he may have been the only choice, when you think about it. And his delivery was amazing, so there were so many good things.”
Trae Young: Kobe was my Jordan…🙇🏽♂️
Harry Giles: KOBE BRYANT ❤️🐍
Farbod Esnaashari: Michael Jordan’s final words in eulogizing Kobe Bryant: “I had a little brother that I tried to help in every way I could. Please, Rest In Peace, little brother.”
Marc J. Spears: “When Kobe Bryant died, a piece of me died,” Michael Jordan.
Mark Medina: Michael Jordan: “Kobe left nothing in the tank. He left it all on the floor.”
Farbod Esnaashari: Michael Jordan: “What Kobe Bryant was to me, was the inspiration that someone truly cared about the way I played the game. He wanted to be the best basketball player he could be. As I got to know him, I wanted to be the best big brother I could be.”
Mark Medina: Surreal. Rob Pelinka got a text from Kobe Bryant on the morning of Jan. 26 asking for any names of any baseball agents. Pelinka responded and Kobe explained he wanted to help a friend get an internship. Kobe sent that text on the helicopter
Mark Medina: Vanessa Bryant: “Gigi would’ve been the best player in the WNBA. She would’ve made a huge difference in women’s basketball.”
Kyle Goon: Diana Taurasi, the White Mamba, with a sizzling moment of levity while talking about Gigi: I mean who has a turnaround fade-away jumper at 11? LeBron just barely got one today. (Referencing LeBron’s shoot against Boston yesterday.)
Jeff Eisenband: Michael Jordan was the first person waiting for Vanessa Bryant as she came off the stage. pic.twitter.com/y0Kj08kFCs
Mark Medina: Others in building: Jeanie Buss, Phil Jackson, Shaq, Jerry West, Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez, Rick Fox, Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook, Paul Pierce
Tim MacMahon: James Harden, Russell Westbrook and P.J. Tucker are attending the memorial service for Kobe and Gianna Bryant in Los Angeles. They plan to fly to Houston on a private jet after the service and play against the Knicks tonight.
Tim Reynolds: Kyrie Irving, Michael Phelps …
Duane Rankin: Devin Booker among the many former, current #NBA players in attendance. #Suns pic.twitter.com/58MBGgYl5o
Since his death at age 41, the nation has mourned the loss of the NBA Hall of Famer, who was an 18-time All-Star and 15-time member of the All-NBA Team. Bryant, Collins said, was one of his favorite professional basketball players. “I loved what he brought to the game,” he said. Collins, who has built customized designer caskets for roughly a decade over his 47 years, said social media led to what he called this humbling assignment. Through social networking, he said, a friend of Bryant’s family reached out to ask if Collins could create some type of memorial art to honor Kobe and the other victims.
“This is nothing people have ever seen. This is something I created,” Collins said from his work site off Collins Place on the edge of Elizabethtown. “And the whole vision behind it – I cannot take the pain away. I try to capture moments to bring back life, energy and the inspiration of the loved ones and their legacy.” The casket, which he said cost $13,000, was built over 3½ days. Donations helped cover the cost, and the names of those donors have been added to a picture of Bryant’s jersey that is meant to be part of the tribute memorial set.
On Monday morning, about 20,000 people — celebrities, athletes, family members, fans and friends — will fill Staples Center to honor Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26 near Calabasas, Calif. The public memorial, called “A Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant,” is expected to run from about 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Pacific time, Zeidman said, followed by several invitation-only receptions. An undisclosed number of tickets were sold to the general public through a lottery. Those who were unable to purchase tickets will not be permitted access to L.A. Live, the entertainment complex adjacent to Staples Center. Officials are discouraging people from trying to congregate near the arena.
Los Angeles will come to a stop Monday to publicly memorialize Kobe and Gianna Bryant at the Staples Center. When Vanessa Bryant announced the pubic service on Instagram earlier this month, she pointed out the symbolism in the date: 2/24/20. Two for the number Gianna, aka “Mambacita,” wore. Twenty-four for the number Kobe wore during the second half of his career. And twenty, for the years Kobe and Vanessa spent together. Kobe and Gianna were buried in a private ceremony on Feb. 7, according to records.
It will be difficult to sum up the former Lakers star’s impact as the team prepares a memorial for Bryant and his daughter Gianna on Monday at Staples Center. “It’s hard in a two-minute, five-minute time to say everything he meant to the world, to the NBA and to basketball fans. He’s bigger than life,” Johnson said before the Lakers’ 114-112 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday at Staples Center. “And it will take years to get over his passing and his daughter and the seven other people who lost their lives as well.”
Thousands of Kobe and Gianna Bryant mourners are just hours away from packing Staples Center for a ceremony celebrating the Mamba and Mambacita’s lives … and TMZ Sports will livestream all of it. The event is expected to be incredibly moving and emotional. As we reported, the demand to attend the memorial was unprecedented. THOUSANDS of people applied for tickets — more than 88,000 just in the first 5 hours.
We’re told officials wrestled with the idea of moving the event to the L.A. Coliseum — which seats closer to 80,000 people — before ultimately settling on Staples. After all, it’s where Kobe played for 20 years and became a beloved figure in Los Angeles and around the world.
Logan Murdock: Steve Kerr says Draymond Green, Stephen Curry and GM Bob Myers will represent the Warriors at Kobe Bryant’s memorial on Monday in Los Angeles.
“We know it’s going to be hard to be in there and hearing all that stuff again, but it’s going to feel good as well,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of the memorial. “We’re going to honor Kobe and Gigi’s life the right way and it’s something that we’re all looking forward to, but understanding that it’s going to be hard.”
September 18, 2021 | 9:28 pm EDT Update
Rockets waive Tyler Bey
The Houston Rockets have waived forward Tyler Bey. This waiver was necessary to create the roster spot for Houston to re-sign Dante Exum. The Rockets signed Bey to a fully non-guaranteed training camp contract in late-August.
September 18, 2021 | 5:41 pm EDT Update
You’re here for at least the next five years now that you’ve signed an extension. Do you allow yourself to think – or dream – about what might come over that time span since you’ve talked openly about wanting to win a title in New York? Have you allowed yourself to think about how things might progress? Julius Randle: Obviously, it’s a process. Everything is a process. We’ve been building this from the ground up. But for me, personally, that is the expectation (winning a title in New York). That’s what I want to happen within that time frame. There’s a lot of things, factors that go into that. So obviously you’ve got to weigh that stuff in.
Julius Randle: But as far as myself, I know Thibs (Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau) is thinking (it as well), it’s just win at all costs. For me personally, that’s just how I prepare myself. I prepare myself to compete at the highest level of our game. Like I said, there’s a lot of factors (that go into winning an NBA title). But I trust Leon (Knicks president Leon Rose), I trust Thibs, Wes (Knicks vice president William Wesley), our coaches, Scott (Knicks GM Scott Perry) – all these guys, I trust. That was part of my process in thinking of signing the extension and that’s my goal, that’s our goal as a team and the guys that are around us. We want to be able to say that we won a championship here in New York. I don’t think there’s any better feeling than that.
Did you guys see the video clip of Trae Young at the Garden with WWE? Do you care about that stuff? Julius Randle: Yeah I see it. But honestly, I don’t care. Obviously, that’s (for) entertainment purposes and all that (stuff), so I let people enjoy it. For me, honestly, I don’t care. I honestly didn’t even watch it. Knicks fans, they’re going to make a big deal out of it – they didn’t like it (laughs). But it’s all fun and games and hopefully they enjoyed it.
September 18, 2021 | 12:10 pm EDT Update
Rockets re-sign Dante Exum, waive Tyler Bey
The Rockets have officially re-signed guard Dante Exum and waived Tyler Bey to create a roster space for him, according to the NBA’s transactions log. Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw was the first to report the Bey transaction (Twitter link). With John Wall not expected to play for the team this season as it seeks to trade him, the Rockets were in the market for another point guard. The Rockets’ interest in Exum surfaced on Tuesday.
