He was an accomplished athlete, a businessman, loving husband, caring father, academy award winner, inspirational figure, and most of all, A LEGEND.

Article by Dave Nguyen, AKSM Sports

LOS ANGELES - According to reports, first released by TMZ, former Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant, passed away in a helicopter crash outside of the Los Angeles area.

This report comes in not even 24 hours after LeBron James, now a member of the Lakers, passed Bryant for third place on the All-Time NBA Scoring List.

"Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother #33644" - The last tweet that Kobe Bryant posted after Lebron James surpassed him in his home town of Philadelphia last night.

Everyone from famous professional athletes and coaches across multiple sports, actors, celebrities, media personnel, anyone and everyone who he inspired has been impacted by this tragedy.

His accomplishments over his 20 year NBA Career speak for itself:

• 5 Time NBA Champion

• 2 Time NBA Finals MVP

• 2008 NBA MVP

• 18 Time NBA All Star

• 11 Time NBA All First-Team

• 9 Time All-NBA Defensive First Team

• 2 Time NBA Scoring Champion

• 2 Gold Medals in the Olympics (2008, 2012)

• 2 Retired Numbers (8, 24)

• 33,643 points (4th All-Time)

• 7,047 Rebounds

• 6,306 Assists

• Future Hall of Fame Member

One thing that sticks out about his career was his approach to the game of basketball: Mamba Mentality. There are no amount of words that can describe what "Mamba Mentality" is, rather it's something you would have needed to see with your own eyes. His constant relentlessness to compete until the final whistle. Not only competing at the highest level, but the amount of preparation that can be admired by the likes of Michael Jordan, who Kobe (among many other NBA players) modeled his career after.

People will remember him for his memorable performances, whether it was scoring 81 points in a single game, the dynamic duo that he had with Shaquille O'Neal and winning three straight championships with the Lakers, winning two more without O'Neal in 2009 and 2010 as he tried to have six championships like Michael Jordan, or scoring 60 points in his final NBA game, an NBA record.

He was an accomplished athlete, a businessman, loving husband, caring father, academy award winner, inspirational figure, and most of all, A LEGEND.

He was 41 years old.