The late NBA superstar, Kobe Bryant was tired of missing and being late to his daughter’s events and decided that the best way to utilize his time was to start using helicopters to travel. It was revealed in a past interview that Kobe wanted to spend more time with his daughters than in Los Angeles traffic.
Kobe NBA player with stats including five championships, two Finals MVPs, one regular-season MVP. When his playing career ended, Kobe’s greatest source of happiness came from his family, his wife of 19 years, Vanessa Laine Bryant and his three daughters: 17-year-old Natalia Diamante Bryant, 13-year-old Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, 3-year-old Bianka Bella Bryant, and 7-month-old Capri Kobe Bryant. On the morning of Sunday, January 26th, Kobe and 8 others, including his daughter Gianna, were traveling on a helicopter in Calabasas California. The helicopter crashed, leaving no survivors. Kobe Bryant was only 41-years-old.
According to People, Bryant told former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez, on the Barstool Sports podcast The Corp with A-Rod and Big Cat that he was sitting in traffic a lot from his Orange County home to practice with the Los Angeles Lakers, which inspired his decision to start using helicopters for travel. He revealed that after practice and lifting, he wanted to take them to and from school and see their events, but it became more difficult with the Los Angeles traffic. Kobe had said, “Traffic started getting really, really bad, and I was sitting in traffic and I wound up missing like a school play because I was sitting in traffic.” With the rigorous NBA lifestyle of travel and events, Kobe carved out time for his daughters when he could, he explained, “You have like road trips and times where you don’t see your kids." He continued, “So every chance I get to see them, to spend time with them, even if it’s 20 minutes in the car.” He explained that he had to find a solution and he thought he had when he decided to utilize helicopters. Kobe said, “I had to figure out a way where I could still train and focus on the craft but still not compromise family time."
After hearing the horrible news of Kobe and Gianna’s deaths, Rodriguez posted on his Instagram, writing, “My heart hurts so much right now. I still can’t wrap my head around this, how can it be?” Rodriguez expressed his gratitude and friendship with Kobe, “I learned so much from Kobe Bryant. His work ethic was impeccable and his stress on mastering the fundamentals is what elevated him to the player he was. I’ve never met anyone more focused with a myopic approach."
It’s obvious that Kobe Bryant’s dedication to his family was his new priority after ending his career in the NBA. The realization that Kobe had used helicopter travel to cut down on the time spend traveling in order to spend more quality time with his daughters is heartbreaking to hear.
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Source: People
