12:42 PM ET I wanted to go last. To let everyone else write their stories on Kobe Bryant as he approached retirement and then top them all. It was an audacious gamble. But that was my pitch to him in the winter of 2016. I thought the audacity would appeal to him. He’d admire the
NBA
11:28 AM ET Memphis Grizzlies guard Grayson Allen is out indefinitely after suffering a hip injury. The Grizzlies said Allen was hurt when he fell awkwardly on his left leg, which forced him to leave Friday’s win over the Detroit Pistons. In his second season, Allen is averaging 7.4 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists.
1:24 AM ET Associated Press ATLANTA — Trae Young had to compose himself a couple of times when asked about the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. It wasn’t easy for Young, who was mentored by Bryant and had a special relationship with the former NBA star’s 13-year-old girl, nicknamed Gigi. “One of
12:32 AM ET ESPN News Services Basketball fans in Europe and Asia reacted to the sudden death of former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant with tributes and praise. Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among several people killed Sunday in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Bryant
11:24 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN NEW ORLEANS — For the first time since he made his NBA debut, New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson was on the floor when the final buzzer sounded inside the Smoothie King Center on Sunday night. It was also the first time Williamson walked off the NBA court a winner
11:51 PM ET The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight other passengers that crashed into a hillside in Southern California on Sunday was in a climbing left turn about 2,400 feet high before it dove to the ground, a person familiar with preliminary investigative information about the fatal crash told ESPN. The source, who spoke
8:56 PM ET We were visiting relatives on a brisk Thanksgiving afternoon on Cape Cod in 2007, and I was balancing a piece of piping-hot apple pie in my hand when my phone pinged to let me know I had a text message. It was from Kobe Bryant. “Hey Jackie, wishing you and your family
8:24 PM ET Grief-stricken players and teams around the NBA paid their respects to Kobe Bryant on Sunday in myriad ways as the stunning news of the former Lakers great’s death shook the league. Nearly every team playing across Sunday’s eight-game schedule — not long after it was learned that Bryant died in a helicopter
7:17 PM ET Graham HaysespnW.com Close Graham Hays covers college sports for espnW, including softball and soccer. Hays began with ESPN in 1999. CORVALLIS, Ore. — Fighting back tears that had nothing to do with the history she and her team had made minutes earlier, Oregon senior Sabrina Ionescu dedicated her season to Kobe Bryant
3:53 PM ET Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among five people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on Sunday, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Bryant was 41. Drafted 13th overall in 1996 out of Lower Merion High School outside of Philadelphia, Bryant was a five-time NBA champion, a two-time