SHAQUILLE O'NEAL
won THREE championships with
KOBE BRYANT
. . . and then they famously had a falling out. But they buried the hatchet a while ago.
Naturally, Shaq was torn up over Kobe's sudden death. He
Tweeted
, quote, “There's no words to express the pain I'm going through with this tragedy of losing my niece Gigi and my brother Kobe Bryant. I love you, and you will be missed.
“My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. I'M SICK RIGHT NOW.” He also
talked
about what an amazing family man Kobe was.
Kobe was even cool with Shaq's family. Shaq's son
Shareef
shared a
screen-grab
showing that Kobe had texted him at 8:19 A.M. yesterday . . . just an hour and a half before the plane crash. He said, quote, “You good fam?”
Shareef responded at 10:58 A.M., but by that point Kobe was gone. It's wild . . . because according to Shareef's screen grab this is the first time they'd messaged each other in six months.
NBA commissioner
Adam Silver
said
, “The NBA family is devastated by the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.”
(Here's a
tribute
from the NBA, which was on ESPN.)
Michael Jordan
said
, quote, “I am in shock . . . Words can't describe the pain I'm feeling. I loved Kobe; he was like a little brother to me. We used to talk often, and I will miss those conversations very much.”
Coach
Phil Jackson
said
, quote, “The crash was a tragedy for multiple families . . . Kobe was a chosen one . . . special in many ways to many people. Our relationship as coach/player transcended the norm. He went beyond the veil.”
Dwyane Wade
said it was one of the saddest days in his lifetime.
(Here's
video
.)
LeBron James
has yet to comment, but there's a
clip
of him online supposedly crying after hearing of Kobe's death.
(And here's
video
of Tiger Woods paying tribute to Kobe, and here's a
piece
that Derek Jeter wrote.)
(And here's Mike Breen
struggling not to cry
on ESPN last night.)
(”
USA Today
“, ”
People
“,
BBC.com
, and
KTLA.com
have more tributes.)
(There was also a
cool tribute
at the Raptors / Spurs game yesterday . . . where both teams started the game by taking 24 second shot clock violations to honor Kobe, #24. It
happened
in a few other games, too.)
