Hamilton pays tribute to NBA star Kobe Bryant

Lewis Hamilton offers his condolences to the family of basketball legend Kobe Bryant after the 41-year-old died in a helicopter crash - the accident also claiming the lives of eight others including Bryant's 13-year-old daughter Gianna.

On Sunday 26 January, it was reported that a helicopter had crashed in Calabasas, California. Soon after, it was announced that Bryant and his daughter Gianna - the names of those also on board have been revealed by family members as John Altobelli, coach of the Orange Coast College basketball team, his wife Keri and their daughter, a friend of Gianna's, Alyssa, along with a basketball coach from Giann's school, Christina Mauser.

Bryant played exclusively for the Lakers during his NBA career. During his 21-year career, Bryant became the NBA champion five-times, won two Olympic gold medals and became the third highest scorer in NBA history - pushed back to fourth on LeBron James earlier on that day.

Bryant was a player who's presence was felt beyond basketball with his name, if not his achievements, known by those with little interest in the sport.

On Twitter, Lewis Hamilton offered his condolences, saying, "Kobe Bryant was one of the greatest athletes and was such an inspiration to so many including myself. I’m deeply saddened for his family and for the people around the world who looked up to him. May he and his daughter rest in peace."

I’m sad to hear that we lost one of our greats. @kobebryant was one of the greatest athletes and was such an inspiration to so many including myself. I’m deeply saddened for his family and for the people around the world who looked up to him. May he and his daughter rest in peace pic.twitter.com/O4ZWANcGKm

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) January 26, 2020

Beyond sport, Bryant had many interests and, in 2018, he became the first professional athlete to be nominated for and to win an Academy Award for his short film 'Dear Basketball'.

Having been forced to sit out playing for a period, Bryant hired Formula One Theme composer Brian Tyler to write the piece of music that he would return to the court on, and Tyler shared a part of that in his own personal tribute.

View this post on Instagram

I wanted to share Kobe Bryant's FB post of "Seasons of Legends" which he asked me to compose the music for back in 2013. We shared many conversations about film music over the years, our last was about Ennio last month. I admired Kobe so much. I still can't believe this tragic news, what an incredible loss. My heart goes out to his family. #ripkobe #ripkobebryant

A post shared by Brian Tyler (@briantylermusic) on Jan 26, 2020 at 6:35pm PST

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