If it wasn’t clear before his tragic death, Kobe Bryant is easily one of the most respected figures in all of sports.
Now with the Los Angeles Lakers legend gone, players from all generations are finding ways to honor Bryant the best way they can with Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul being the latest to share their heartbreaking stories.
Anthony and Paul — along with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James — make up one of the NBA’s most prolific friend groups and it seems that each one of these four was not only devastated by the news, but all owe some portion of their success to Bryant.
Paul, who was supposed to be teammates with Bryant, spoke about how no matter what, he always looked to Bryant to see how he could improve both on and off the court. He also said that he prays that his daughter looks at him the way Gianna Bryant — who also devastatingly passed away with Bryant — looked at her dad, via Instagram:
Anthony also shared his feelings following the tragedy, saying that it will never make sense to him and that Bryant had just called him to tell him that he would be attending the team’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, via Instagram:
It’s clear that Anthony and Paul — like so many others — are absolutely broken from this. Anthony was drafted in 2003 and Paul in 2005, meaning they both likely watched as Bryant won three straight championships and became an inspiration to an entire generation of fans and players.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when discussing the impact Bryant had. Players who came before him all the way down to players who never shared the court with him today all feel like they lost someone they could look up to.
For Paul and Anthony, they lost someone they saw as both a competitor and a friend — as well as someone they idolized.