Kobe Bryant believed it on the day he was drafted into the N.B.A. He made sure the scribes who watched him score 27 points in his first summer league game with the Los Angeles Lakers knew he believed it, too. One of the countless painful realizations to unspool from the helicopter crash that killed Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others is that Kobe will not be there for the induction he envisioned from boyhood. I always believed that Magic Johnson’s announcement on Nov. 7, 1991, that he had H.I.V. audiences, could be seen weeping on the Spurs’ bench as the San Antonio crowd paid tribute to Bryant on Sunday night.

Source: New York Times January 28, 2020 00:36 UTC