What happens when someone you admire dies? When a person who had many connections with people dies, it puts a big toll on a person’s heart. In this case, it was especially true for the  famous “GirlDad” Kobe Bryant. Kobe was a phenomenal basketball player with five rings (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2010). He is also going to be in the Hall of Fame later this year in what will definitely be an emotional moment. Many people were greatly impacted by the loss of the G.O.A.T himself, with many players – both past and present – paying tribute to him, and teams in the beginning of their games just following his death taking a 24 second violation to honor his number.  Additionally, some players, including Trae Young, intentionally took an 8 second backcourt violation to honor his other number. . 

While the players mourned his loss, so did coaches who worked with Kobe, coached against him, or just admired him from afar. One coach, Doc Rivers of the LA Clippers,  was in tears in an interview that had him struggling to talk following news of his death. When he was able to muster up his words, The interviewers ask Coach rivers to speak about the good times with his friend: “We were at a function a couple weeks ago and sat and talked for 45 minutes ya know; we always like to reminisce and we always laugh about our losses and we would laugh on how we looked at the games,” said the emotional Rivers.

After his death some fans expressed interest in the NBA changing the league logo from Jerry West to Kobe. According to Evan Bleier, it is up to the league whether or not to change the logo, but you never know because  it would be a good way to honor Kobe and to always remember his impact on the game. 

One thing the NBA did do is rename the all-star game MVP award to the NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player. This year’s winner was Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers. 

It has been an emotional few weeks since we lost Kobe.  Let’s hope that we don’t let this loss hang over our heads too long and we all choose to move forward and remember the good times when Kobe was still alive and being the best of the best. Rest In Power, Kobe.