‘There’s No Playbook’: Recalling the Pain of Lost Teammates

“You’re just stunned,” Kaat said. “You start thinking, ‘This can’t be real, can it?’”

Unlike Munson, who was an active player when he died at age 32, and Roberto Clemente, whose death at 38 in a 1972 plane crash also shocked the sports world, Bryant had been retired for nearly four years. But he was still a regular presence around the Lakers, a mentor to younger players and an iconic figure for longtime employees of the organization who suddenly found themselves mourning his loss in the middle of their season.

At the Lakers’ request, the N.B.A. canceled the team’s game against the Clippers that had been scheduled for Tuesday night. Instead, the Lakers gathered at their practice facility for lunch. The organization made grief counselors available to players and other team employees, and former Lakers, such as Metta World Peace, visited.

“This is a very difficult time for all of us,” the team said in a statement.

The tragedy came amid a buoyant season for the Lakers, who have championship aspirations for the first time in years, and even their loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night brought some cause for celebration: Bryant had called LeBron James after the game with congratulations for passing him on the N.B.A.’s career scoring list.

The following morning, the Lakers were flying back to Los Angeles when Coach Frank Vogel informed his players that Bryant, who was 41, had died.

“Everybody became inconsolable,” John Ireland, the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Lakers, said on his show on 710 AM in Los Angeles.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/sports/basketball/kobe-bryant-athlete-deaths.html?emc=rss&partner=rss