Former Los Angeles Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar posts condolence video following Kobe Bryant's death in helicopter crash
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar posts condolence video following Kobe Bryant’s death
SHOWS: INTERNET (JANUARY 26, 2020) (KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR - MUST ON SCREEN COURTESY TWITTER/@kaj33 \ NO RESALE) 1.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) BASKETBALL GREAT, KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, SAYING: "It's very difficult for me to put in words how I feel about the loss of Kobe Bryant.
As a young boy, I met him when he was 11 or 12-years-old.
I was friends with his dad, Joe.
We were former adversaries.
Joe played for the 76ers, but he was a good friend and someone that I shared a friendship (with).
And it's hard for me to understand now how this is affecting Joe and his wife.
So, to Kobe's family, I want to send my most sincere and heartfelt regrets and prayers.
And my thoughts are with you guys.
Kobe was an incredible family man.
He loved his wife and daughters.
He was an incredible athlete and a leader, in a lot of ways.
He inspired a whole generation of young athletes.
He was one of the first ones to leave high school and come into the NBA and do so well - dominating the game and becoming one of the best scorers that the Los Angeles Lakers has ever seen.
I had the privilege of being there when he scored his 81-point game and it was something that I will always remember as one of the highlights of the things that I have learned and observed in sports.
Kobe, my thoughts are with you, absolutely.
Rest in peace, young man.
This loss is - it's just hard to comprehend.
Go with God." STORY: Following the death of basketball great Kobe Bryant, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar posted a video of condolences to Twitter on Sunday (January 26).
Abdul-Jabbar, the all-time NBA scoring leader and former Laker sent his "heartfelt regrets and prayers" to Bryant's family in the video in which he is seen wearing a Los Angeles Lakers shirt.
He ends the video saying, "Rest in peace, young man.
This loss is - it's just hard to comprehend.
Go with God." Bryant, one of the NBA's all-time greats whose international stardom transcended basketball, was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles along with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others on board, officials said.
He was 41.
(Production: Kurt Michael Hall)