LOS ANGELES _ An extra jersey hung in the lockers belonging to Los Angeles Clippers reserves Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell on Sunday afternoon inside Staples Center.
The jerseys had been customized hours earlier to read "Hussle" on the back and were quickly delivered to a locker room that was one of many across the NBA to mourn Sunday's death of Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle.
Hours after the artist was shot and killed outside his clothing store in Los Angeles, news of his death reverberated across the league, beginning in the city's downtown arena. The Clippers played a video tribute before Sunday night's tipoff against Memphis, and Williams and Harrell each wrote messages on their sneakers referencing Hussle in black marker.
"It's just rough," said Williams, who has made music throughout his career and knew Hussle personally. "I haven't even been able to digest it all."
Though he said he was not as close with Hussle, 33, as teammates Williams and Wilson Chandler were, Harrell said he admired Hussle's work in the South L.A. community where he was born, raised and eventually gunned down. Hussle was regarded highly not only for his music, but for his civic work.
"I've seen the stuff that he did for the city of Los Angeles and the uplift that he brought to the community," Harrell said. "It's just tough, man.
"... For his life to be taken from where he was basically born and raised, it's just tough, man. It's a sad day. We really got to come together as people and stop just promoting all this violence. There's a better way to go, there's a different way to go than just to be able to take somebody's life. His fiancee, his kids, he's not going to be there for them and it's just tough. It's just sad for it to happen like that."
The Lakers' LeBron James, Miami's Dwyane Wade and Golden State's Stephen Curry were among the dozens of NBA players to post tributes to Hussle on social media.
"So so SAD man!!" James wrote. "DAMN man this hurt."
"People like Nip are never just what they do for a living," Chandler tweeted. "So much more man. Dropped a lot of gems. Touched a lot of (people). He's one of the most genuine (people) I ever crossed paths with. Lost an amazing soul today. Same (people) you fight for will kill you sometimes. That's a real lesson."
