LOS ANGELES _ Many Los Angeles Lakers were sleeping as they flew home from Philadelphia on Sunday, as devastating news began to spread through the plane.
Kobe Bryant had been killed in a helicopter crash.
One of the players who was awake was the only one who had been a Lakers teammate of Bryant's. Dwight Howard began circulating the news as soon as he found out. Kurt Rambis and the Lakers director of media relations, Alison Bogli, addressed the coaches. Then Lakers coach Frank Vogel went to the area of the plane where players sit to address his team.
They were shocked. Devastated. Speechless. LeBron James, who had just passed Bryant on the league's all-time scoring list the night before, appeared broken up. He'd idolized Bryant as a teenager and looked to follow his lead into the NBA.
Now the NBA and the Lakers will grapple with determining how to proceed with their regular business. At arenas around the NBA, moments of silence were held. Fans from Madison Square Garden to the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., chanted Bryant's name.
