LOS ANGELES — The NBA has postponed the Los Angeles Lakers’ next game against the Clippers on Tuesday night after the deaths of retired superstar Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash.
The league announced the decision in a statement Monday, saying it “was made out of respect for the Lakers organization.”
Bryant’s helicopter crashed Sunday, and the Lakers learned about it while flying home from an East Coast road trip. LeBron James and several other players appeared to be visibly affected by the news when they got off the plane.
“The Los Angeles Lakers would like to thank all of you for the tremendous outpouring of support and condolences,” the Lakers organization said in a statement after the postponement was announced. “This is a very difficult time for all of us.”
The 16-time NBA champion franchise made grief counselors available to employees Monday after the loss of Bryant, who spent his entire 20-year NBA career with the Lakers.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was quite close to Bryant, and Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka was Bryant’s agent during his playing career.
Dwight Howard is the only current Lakers player who played with Bryant for the franchise for one season back in 2012-13, but the players all knew him. James and Bryant teamed up on the U.S. Olympic teams in 2008 and 2012, and Anthony Davis played a backup role on that 2012 London Olympics team.
Bryant had attended a handful of Lakers games in recent years with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who also died in the crash in Calabasas, California.
The NBA says the game between the Los Angeles rivals will be rescheduled later.
SPURS: San Antonio forward LaMarcus Aldridge missed the Spurs’ game at Chicago because of a sprained right thumb.
The 34-year-old Aldridge had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 341/2 minutes during Sunday’s 110-106 loss to Toronto.
HEAT 113, MAGIC 92: Bam Adebayo got his third triple-double of the season in his last opportunity to impress Eastern Conference All-Star voters, Duncan Robinson scored 21 points and Miami won at home.
Adebayo finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He’s a candidate to be a reserve selection for the All-Star Game; coaches pick those teams, and their ballots are due at the NBA office on Tuesday for an announcement on Thursday.
CAVALIERS 115, PISTONS 110: Kevin Love scored all 20 of his points in the first half, and Cleveland won in Detroit to snap a seven-game losing streak.
Love, an Olympic teammate of Kobe Bryant’s who played college basketball in Los Angeles at UCLA, made six 3-pointers before halftime. It was the first game for either team since Bryant’s death Sunday in a helicopter crash.
MAVERICKS 107, THUNDER 97: Luka Doncic had 29 points and 11 rebounds, and Dallas won in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder’s Chris Paul sat out for personal reasons a night after Bryant, one of the league’s all-time greats, was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
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