SACRAMENTO -- The NBA just went through one of their worst months in league history. It started with the unfortunate passing of Commissioner Emeritus David Stern on January 1 and then the league was shaken to its core with the passing of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others aboard a helicopter that crashed in southern California last Sunday.
The news of Kobe’s death has stunned the sports world. For the Sacramento Kings, they haven’t been able to get away from the dark cloud.
On Monday, they played in Minnesota a little over 24 hours after Kobe’s passing. On Wednesday, the Kings hosted Oklahoma City and the organization celebrated the lives of those who perished with a multiple video tributes and 24 seconds of silence.
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While still grieving for a player that many Kings players idolized throughout their youth, the Kings were once again thrust into the story on Thursday when they traveled to Los Angeles for the first game in Staples Center since the accident.
Thousands of fans filled the area surrounding Staples, bringing flowers, jerseys, painting and keepsakes. The entire area has become a memorial site with countless fans making the trek down to pay their respects for the 18-time All-Star.
Saturday evening was another gut wrenching evening for Kings players as the team played host to the Lakers for the first time. The Kings’ franchise once again ran tributes to the fallen, but they also made a memorial outside of Golden 1 Center to give fans a place to grieve.
It has been a heavy week for everyone involved and it just doesn’t seem like the Kings can escape the pain.
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“For me, man, it’s still unbelievable,” guard De’Aaron Fox said after the Kings’ 129-113 loss to the Lakers. “I’m just sitting at home and you see like, Bill Russell and Jerry West and some of the older guys coming to the game, and you are thinking you’re [someday] going to see a 50-60 year old sitting there. So to me, it’s still a very weird feeling.”
“We wish we came out with a win, but the only yellow jersey I was okay with seeing tonight was a Kobe jersey - it’s different,” Fox added.
Golden 1 Center was packed with Lakers fans wearing jerseys. During introductions, the fans chanted, “Kobe, Kobe, Kobe!” They chimed in again in the final moments of the game as the Lakers marked their 38th win of the season.
“I love the fact that what he meant to the organization, what he meant to the game of basketball, is going to be acknowledged in a lot of the arenas that we play in,” Lakers superstar LeBron James said following the game. “What he was able to do here in Sacramento as an opponent - some of his biggest games he had against this franchise - so they acknowledged the great Kobe Bryant tonight.”
The relationship between the city of Sacramento and Kobe Bryant is complicated. From the 2002 Western Conference Championship, to the infamous cheeseburger delivered to Kobe’s room, there wasn’t a lot of love lost between Kings fans and the five-time NBA champion.
Regardless of how fans felt about Kobe when he was on the court, the harsh reality of this week was a reminder of something more. Kobe was a father and a husband and a son and a friend and a player that an entire generation of players idolized.
One of those friends is former teammate and current Kings head coach Luke Walton, who has had a very difficult time dealing with the loss. Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic grew up with Kobe as their favorite player. Kings forward Kent Bazemore spent the 2013-14 season with Kobe in a Lakers uniform.
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Sacramento isn’t unique in any of this. The Lakers will travel from one city to the next for the remainder of the season and face some sort of reminder of what was lost.
There will be a point when the pain of this tragedy lessens, but it doesn’t seem like it’s anytime soon.