LeBron James Was Pictured In Tears After Hearing About Kobe Bryant’s Death

The world is still reeling from the news of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death in a helicopter crash yesterday along with eight other people including his daughter and one man that it looks like it’s hit particularly hard is the man who recently overtook him for most points scored in NBA history: LeBron James.

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LeBron was with his teammates at the LA Lakers when he heard the news as they were getting off the team plane and was visibly upset at the news, bursting into tears very obviously. You can see the heartbreaking footage below, as well as reading the tribute that LeBron has payed to Kobe underneath that:

LeBron James in tears exiting team plane. Someone he looked up to in Kobe! #RIP pic.twitter.com/YcX03uhSOZ

— Cleveland Sports Talk (@CLEsportsTalk) January 26, 2020

When I was a high school kid I was growing up through the ranks when Kobe came into the leagues.

It wasn’t a dream of mine to go straight to the NBA from high school at the time but for a 17 or 18 year old to make that leap, that’s pretty damn cool.

As I started playing more ball and went into high school the things he was doing on the floor I admired and wanted to be a part of.

I went to camp and he came to speak to the kids and I was just listening. I was tried to soak everything up that I could.

I can remember one thing that he said. He said that if you want to be one of the greats you have to put the work in. There is no substitution to work.

I was a 15 year old kid at that camp.

In 2001, I was playing in New Jersey and the All-Star team was playing in Philadelphia.

That Saturday me and Maverick drove to the Intercontinental in down town Philly and he gave me a pair of his shoes which I ended up wearing the following night.

I was a 15 and he was a 14 but I wore them anyway.

I just sat and talked to him for a little bit.

When I got drafted I still admired him, seeing what he was able to accomplish and winning Championships.

As competitors, just watching the work ethic he put into his game. He has zero flaws offensively. I admired that he was in a place where defenses were at bay and couldn’t guard him at all. He was immortal offensively.

It was a dream come true to line up alongside him after admiring him for so many years.

To make a long story short, I’m now in a Lakers uniform, in Philly where he is from, and where I first met him. It is unreal. It makes no sense.

The universe puts things in your life and when you are living the right way things happen organically. I am happy just being in any conversation about Kobe Bean Bryant.

He is one of the all-time greatest ever basketball players to play one of the greatest Lakers – the man had two jerseys hanging up at Staples Centre.