Kobe Bryant was one of nine people that died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Califiornia on Sunday, and Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel has now broken his silence on the athlete’s tragic passing.
“It’s been a deeply saddening time for all of us,” Vogel said on Wednesday after the team’s first full practice since Bryant’s death, via Entertainment Tonight. He added that the team had a practice on Tuesday and participated in activities that are “therapeutically beneficial.”
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Bryant played with the Lakers for all 20 seasons of his NBA career and won five NBA Championships with the team. After his retirement in 2016, he remained close with several members of the organization and had begun taking his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who also died in the crash, to games with him.
When asked whether the team would dedicate the rest of their season fo Bryant, Vogel responded, “We want to represent what Kobe was about, more than anything. We’ve always wanted to make him proud, and that’s not going to be any different here.”
“He was the most feared man in the league for an entire generation, and the influence is profound league-wide, basketball-wide, community-wide, worldwide, Lakers family-wide and his influence will be felt forever,” the coach added.
After Bryant’s death, the NBA canceled the Lakers’ Jan. 28 game against the Los Angeles Clippers and will reschedule it for a later date. The team’s next game is now set for Jan. 31 and will be a home matchup at the Staples Center against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Vogel shared that he thinks returning to the game will help his players, none of whom have yet spoken about Bryant’s death, in their grieving process.
“I think it’s therapeutic,” he said, via ESPN. “Any time you can get out and take your mind off something like this, there’s no doubt it will be therapeutic and just help with the process of us moving forward.”
He added that his team has only become closer since the NBA legend’s passing.
“It’s just strengthened what we’ve felt all year about our current group, which is we’ve become a family in a very short time,” Vogel shared. “And it’s something you talk about in the NBA with your teams, but this group in particular has really grown to love each other very rapidly. And we understand the importance and the opportunity that we have this year, and this has just brought us closer together.”
The other victims of the crash included Gianna’s basketball teammates Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester, Altobelli’s parents John and Keri Altobelli, Chester’s mom Sarah Chester, girls’ basketball coach Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan.
Photo Credit: Getty / Jim McIsaac
