Kobe Bryant: NBA legend dies in helicopter crash at age of 41

Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, has died in a helicopter crash, according to multiple reports. He was 41.

Kobe Bryant won five championships with the Lakers.Kobe Bryant won five championships with the Lakers.

TMZ initially reported the news, and said Bryant was on board the helicopter along with four others when it crashed at 10am local time near Calabasas in California. According to the Los Angeles Times, the aircraft crashed in foggy weather, and ignited brushfires, making it hard for rescuers to get close to the site. There were no reported survivors.

“We received a call just before 10am this morning of an aircraft down in the Malibu area, right off of Las Vergenes, essentially Calabasas,” said Tony Imbrenda of the Los Angeles County fire department, told reporters at the scene. “Some folks were out here mountain biking this morning, they saw an aircraft in distress, they went down into the hillside. This was a helicopter, it’s been confirmed it was an S-76 Sikorsky helicopter and unfortunately there were no survivors.”

Bryant played his entire, 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA. He won five championships with the team and was named an All-Star on 18 occasions. He retired in 2016.

In 2018 he won an Oscar for best animated short for a film called Dear Basketball, based on a poem he wrote about his retirement from the game.

His reputation was tarnished after he was arrested in 2003 over accusations he had raped a teenager at a hotel in Colorado. Bryant denied the allegations, saying the encounter had been consensual. The case was dropped after the alleged victim refused to testify at trial. He later apologised to the woman, saying “I recognise now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did”.

On Saturday night, another NBA legend, LeBron James, paid tribute to Bryant after passing him to become the third-highest scorer in the league’s history.

“He is someone that I used as inspiration. It was like, wow. Seeing a kid, 17 years old, come into the NBA and trying to make an impact on a franchise, I used it as motivation,” said James. “He helped me before he even knew of me because of what he was able to do. So, just to be able to, at this point of my career, to share the same [Lakers] jersey that he wore, be with this historical franchise and just represent the purple and gold, it’s very humbling.” –bbc.com