Friends, family and fellow athletes have paid tribute to NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and eight others, including his daughter Gianna, at a memorial service in Los Angeles.
The ceremony took place at a packed Staples Center, the home of the Los Angeles Lakers, the team Bryant was a part of for his entire 20-year NBA career.
Bryant and the other victims were killed in January when their helicopter crashed into a California hillside in foggy conditions.
Jordan was one of several speakers at the memorial for Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter. “I told my wife I wasn’t going to do this, because I didn’t want to see this for the next three or four years.That is what Kobe Bryant does to me,” Jordan said to laughs at a packed Staples Center. “He knows how to get to you in a way that affects you personally … even if he’s being a pain in the ass.”
Jordan made a reference to the meme of his face, red-eyed with tears streaming down his cheeks, from his 2009 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
He also spoke with emotion, describing their decades long friendship and how he thought of Bryant as a “little brother.”
Jordan, widely acknowledge as the greatest NBA player of all time. “When Kobe Bryant died, a piece of me died,” he said.
Both men were known as fierce competitors, but they also forged a bond. “Maybe it surprised people … but we were very close friends,” said Jordan. “Everyone always wanted to talk about the comparisons between he and I. I just wanted to talk about Kobe.”
The ceremony opened with a performance from Beyonce , before Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, paid tribute to her husband and 13-year-old daughter.
The service was rounded out by a performance from Christina Aguilera, who sang Ave Maria.
“I will live with the memories of knowing that I had a little brother that I tried to help in every way I could.” Michael Jordan finished by saying. We hope that the father and daughter will indeed rest in peace.
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