Devastating twist in Kobe Bryant tragedy as video with daughter resurfaces

Gianna Bryant was only 13, but she was already proudly forging ahead to continue her father’s basketball legacy.

Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant died on Sunday when a helicopter crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California.

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His daughter, known as Gigi, was on board with a fellow player and parent on her travel basketball team.

All nine on board, which includes the pilot, died in the crash, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said. They were reportedly en route to a game.

Gianna was already following her father’s footsteps with a passion for basketball.

Bryant spoke about her in an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in December 2018.

When people told him he and his wife need to have a son so someone could carry on his legacy, Gianna would step in and say “oh, I got this.”

Four days ago, CNN published an interview with the five-time NBA champion in which he said Gianna was “hellbent” on playing at UConn.

Gianna wanted to follow in Kobe’s footsteps

Bryant coached Gianna on her middle school basketball team for at least the past year.

Of course, that teaching aspect has long been a part of their father-daughter relationship.

"Gianna's pretty easy to coach," he told Entertainment Tonight in December 2018.

"We haven't had any issues of dad-daughter sort of thing. She's very competitive and she's a hard worker, so there haven't been any issues with that."

Video of Kobe teaching Gianna some lessons while they sat courtside at an NBA game last year went viral at the time, and has done so again after the tragedy.

“We just had so much fun because it was the first time I was seeing the game through her eyes,” Kobe said of the experience with his daughter while on the Showtime Basketball podcast All the Smoke earlier this month.

“It wasn’t me sitting there, you know, as an athlete or a player or something like that, and you know it’s like about me, and I don’t like that,” he added.

“It was her, she was having such a good time.”

A week ago, Bryant shared an Instagram post on Gianna’s improvement. She was a constant on his social media feeds and went viral with her father-esque moves over the years.

He dubbed her “Mambacita” after his own nickname, the Black Mamba.

Daughter got Kobe to watch NBA again

Bryant credited his second of four daughters with getting him to watch more NBA in retirement.

He left the game in 2016 after 20 years with the Lakers and hadn’t gone to Staples Center for a game since his jerseys were retired in 2017.

Gianna named Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young as one of her favourite players as well as Luka Doncic, Russell Westbrook and, of course, LeBron James, Bryant told CNN.

He believed his daughter would make it to the WNBA, he said recently, and supported that league closely for years.

He and Gianna visited the Oregon Ducks and Sabrina Ionescu in recent months. An emotional Ionescu, who was close with the family, and her fourth-ranked Ducks defeated No. 7 Oregon State on Sunday in a broadcast that showed multiple photos of Gianna with the star.

Bryant’s first two daughters were old enough to watch their father play and attend games at Staples Center. The Los Angeles Times shared a photo of Gianna at a game in 2016.

Bryant is survived by his wife, Vanessa.

They are also parents to oldest daughter Natalia, who turned 17 on January 19, 3-year-old Bianka and seven-month-old Capri.

Cassandra Negley - Yahoo Sports