Kobe Bryant: ‘Blue Bloods’ Star Donnie Wahlberg Reacts to Celtics’ ‘Touching Tribute’

In their first game at home since the tragedy that left Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others dead following a helicopter crash, the Boston Celtics paid tribute to the iconic basketball player. They displayed his number “24” on the jumbotron that was accompanied with a video montage.

In attendance was Blue Bloods actor Donnie Wahlberg, who was very appreciative of the gesture by his hometown team. He posted a shot of the jumbotron on his Instagram.

“I’m honored to have witnessed such a touching tribute tonight. Thank you Boston, and thank you [Celtics], for always showing respect to the greats,” he wrote in the caption.

During Bryant’s NBA career, he was a part of many tightly-contested games between the Lakers and Celtics. The Philadelphia native’s fifth and final championship came against the Celtics in 2010. The series proved to be one of the more entertaining to date as it went all seven games as Bryant took home the honor of being named the Finals MVP.

Prior to their first game at home, Celtics current head coach, Brad Stevens, spoke about the legacy of Bryant.

“I don’t know if there’s a right way or a wrong way to handle anything,” Stevens said. “Everybody was obviously, around the league, players, staff, fans, even, I guess, fans who don’t follow it, they are obviously really impacted. It’s a tragedy, and our guys were impacted, in large part because not only do they play the game, but they looked up to Kobe, and also in a lot of cases, had personal relationships with him, and you know, just really hard stuff all the way around.”

Around the league, many teams put out tributes honoring Bryant, including the only team he ever played for. In their first game after his death — their scheduled next game against the Los Angeles Clippers was postponed — Lebron James delivered a heartfelt message to the crowd, speaking from the heart after he tossed aside the scripted speech he had brought out with him.

“The first thing that comes to mind is all about family. As I look all around this arena, we’re all grieving, we’re all hurting, we’re all heartbroken,” he shared. “But when we’re going through things like this, the best thing you can do is lean on the shoulders of your family and from Sunday morning all the way until the point – I had heard about Laker Nation before I got here last year about how much of a family it is – and that is absolutely what I’ve seen this whole week.”