The night the NBA stood still for Kobe and Gigi Bryant

The NBA stood still Sunday evening, stuck somewhere between the guise of competition and mourning the loss of a basketball legend who tragically and suddenly died alongside his 13-year-old daughter.

The news of the death of Kobe and Gianna Maria Bryant was confirmed shortly before the NBA began an eight-game slate. It felt like the games could not and should not have been played. Instead, they went on as scheduled. The result was a surreal night in which wins and losses were immaterial, submerged beneath the weight of grief and honoring Kobe’s complicated legacy.

The Nuggets and Rockets played the first game of the day, an afternoon matinee that tipped just as the nation was coming to grips with the news. The players were visibly shaken as they took the court. Houston’s Tyson Chandler, Austin Rivers and P.J. Tucker were each photographed overcome with emotion during the national anthem. Tucker wore Bryant’s signature Nike shoes and wrote “RIP KB” and “Love you KB24” on them.

The game was supposed to be televised on NBA TV, but most of it wasn’t, replaced by a studio show with Brian Shaw (Bryant’s former teammate) and Stan Van Gundy attempting to figure out how to talk about a tragedy as it was being processed in real time. Back in the arena, players were unable to hide that their minds were on Bryant.

Doc Rivers was thrust into the spotlight next. Before the Los Angeles Clippers faced the Orlando Magic, he gave an emotional address about the Bryants to the assembled media. With tears running down his face, he collected himself and spoke of Bryant’s virtue as an opponent from Rivers’ days battling the Lakers as the head coach of the Boston Celtics.

“I’m sorry I don’t have a lot to say,” Rivers said, choked up. “I have to go talk to a team before a game and tell them to play.”

Teams came up with their own way to honor Bryant. Arenas paused for moments of silence before tip-off. The Mavericks announced they would retire Bryant’s No. 24, despite the fact that he never played for the franchise. Madison Square Garden lit up in Lakers colors and with Bryant’s image.

The Spurs and Raptors each agreed to take shot clock violations on their first possessions. Players and coaches on both sides were visibly overcome with emotion as it was happening. The Hawks and Wizards followed suit, agreeing to take a 24-second shot clock violation and an 8-second backcourt violation to begin their game, highlighting both of the numbers Bryant wore throughout his career. The Clippers and Magic would do the same.

The night was particularly emotional for Hawks star Trae Young, who was already in tears arriving to the arena as he embraced his mother. Young was Gigi Bryant’s favorite player. They met recently when the Bryants showed up to watch him play. Young started the game wearing Bryant’s No. 8, before switching into his customary No. 11 later in the game.

Young would finish the night with 45 points on 24 shots and 14 assists, becoming the first player since Bryant to record a 45-point double-double on fewer than 25 field-goal attempts. Before and after the game, Young dealt with his grief publicly on social media, posting multiple times across multiple platforms about his admiration for the Bryants and the pain he was feeling.

Then there was Kyrie Irving, who heard the news of Bryant’s passing and immediately left the arena. He did not play vs. the Knicks. Bryant had taken Irving under his wing in many ways early in his career, seeing a bit of himself in a young guard who so often took on opposing defenses by his lonesome. A video of Bryant talking about his relationship with Irving circulated later in the day.

Other players and coaches throughout the league wore their pain throughout the night. Spencer Dinwiddie cried in the locker room, recalling the time when Bryant told him he was an all-star. Devin Booker welled up with emotion as fans chanted “Kobe” throughout the Suns’ game against the Grizzlies. Gregg Popovich began his postgame comments saying “Good game, tough loss, who cares.”

Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams, who lost his wife in a car accident in 2016, put it best before his team took on the Memphis Grizzlies: “Basketball is not really that important.”

Kobe doesn’t leave an easy legacy to reckon with, not after the rape allegations from a Colorado hotel room 17 years ago. What is clear is how much he meant to people around the game, from the coaches and peers who competed against him to the young players who grew up idolizing his skillset.

The NBA has never seen a day like the one that followed the Bryants’ passing. Perhaps Kobe would have wanted the games to go on. For everyone else, basketball has never felt so inconsequential.