VIDEO: LeBron James and Lakers Emotionally React to Kobe Bryant's Death After Landing in Los Angeles
By Sean Facey
The Los Angeles Lakers were flying back from Philadelphia when the news broke of Kobe Bryant's death, so their reaction to the tragedy wasn't immediately seen by the general public. But just after 2:00 pm PST, the team's plane arrived in Los Angeles, and the raw emotions of LeBron James and his teammates are saddening.
LeBron is met with emotional hugs after landing in Los Angeles following the death of Kobe Bryant.
— ESPN (@espn) January 26, 2020
(via NBC4 Los Angeles) pic.twitter.com/Fx9jt2qZVi
It's just brutal to watch. These guys, after all, are inseparably tied to Bryant's legacy. They play for the franchise that he carried for 20 years. They have a bond with him that few basketball players get to share.
James, who passed Bryant on the all-time scoring list on Saturday, was particularly emotional.
The pain they must be going through is unimaginable. To land at the airport only to find that one of the franchise's greatest players and one of their closest colleagues is dead must be beyond painful.
The #Lakers team plane has arrived back in LA. https://t.co/ZZCkzCy3jf pic.twitter.com/CqJ8oXPYvY
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) January 26, 2020
The tears in the eyes of LeBron James, a close friend of Bryant's, show just how much he meant to both them and the game of basketball as a whole.