Basketball legend Kobe Bryant dies in helicopter crash at 41 *ARCHIVE*

M/S Bryant adjusting hat
M/S Kobe Bryant playing football
M/S Bryant playing football
M/S Bryant playing football
M/S Bryant playing football
M/S Bryant playing football
M/S Bryant playing football
M/S Bryant playing football
M/S Fans
C/U Gold skull trophy
M/S Bryant's Madame Tussauds's wax figure
W/S Bryant with FC Barcelona team
M/S Bryant sigining shirt
M/S Bryant with FC Barcelona team
C/U Bryant with shirt
W/S Bryant with FC Barcelona team
M/S Bryant with FC Barcelona team
W/S Bryant with FC Barcelona team
M/S Bryant with FC Barcelona team
M/S Bryant with FC Barcelona team
SCRIPT
Iconic Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant was travelling onboard his private helicopter in Calabasas, California, when it crashed, killing all on board on Sunday morning.
Archive footage shows Kobe Bryant being presented with his own FC Barcelona strip by the club's captain Andres Iniesta , as the LA Lakers visited the football team during a training session at Carson's (CA) StubHub Centre.
Bryant won five championships with the Lakers in the NBA, for whom he played his entire, 20-year career, before retiring in 2016 as the NBA’s third-highest all-time scorer. He was named an All-Star on 18 occasions and won gold medals with Team USA at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Following his retirement in 2018, Bryant was awarded an Oscar a short animation film called ‘Dear Basketball,’ and has written children’s books and produced animated stories.
Bryant’s NBA's all-time points list record had just been broken by LeBron James, who overtook Bryant’s 33,643 points tally on Saturday. The last tweet from Bryant congratulated James for "continuing to move the game forward."
In 2003 he was at the centre of controversy when he was arrested for the rape of a teenage girl in a hotel room in Colorado. The case was dropped after the teenager did not testify in court, and Bryant always insisted the encounter was consensual.
It is currently unclear who else was killed in the crash, though reports indicate Bryant's daughter also died. There were no survivors according to local media.