One year on from the sudden and tragic loss of Kobe Bryant, the Lakers are still feeling the void that he left behind.
"Man, it's a saying that time heals all," LeBron James said after the Lakers' win over Chicago this past weekend. Although James is still deep in his grief, the process has been aided by drawing upon Bryant's competitive spirit whenever possible.
During the previous season's playoff and NBA Finals run, the Lakers donned their 'Black Mamba' jerseys—designed by Bryant—to honor the memory of Bryant and his young daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash last year.
"As devastating and as tragic as it was—and still is—to all of us involved with it, only time. And it takes time. Everyone has their own grieving process," he said.
"Us being able to remember him, wearing [Mamba] jerseys during the postseason and have the postseason we had ... we have a lot of guys wearing his shoes, I'm able to wear the two-four on my finger every night and then when we play at Staples Center you see the eight, two-four in the rafters to live his legacy on."
"It's a lot of things that die in this world, but legends never die, and he's exactly that. So it's all about representing that," James concluded.
"As devastating and as tragic as it was—and still is—to all of us involved with it, only time. And it takes time. Everyone has their own grieving process," he said.
"Us being able to remember him, wearing [Mamba] jerseys during the postseason and have the postseason we had ... we have a lot of guys wearing his shoes, I'm able to wear the two-four on my finger every night and then when we play at Staples Center you see the eight, two-four in the rafters to live his legacy on."
"It's a lot of things that die in this world, but legends never die, and he's exactly that. So it's all about representing that," James concluded.