TMZSports.com
It’s been 365 days since Kobe Bryant tragically passed away … but Byron Scott‘s still nowhere close to moving on — telling TMZ Sports, “I still think about him every day.”
The former NBA star was very tight with the Mamba — Byron played with Kobe AND coached him — and he says getting through the tragedy has been hard as hell.
“There’s two people that passed away in my life,” Byron said. “My mom, who I think about all the time, and ‘Showboat.’ I think about him every day.”
Scott explained, “It’s something about him that, in my life, every day something brings me back to a memory of KB.”
Byron says from when he met Kobe as a 17-year-old, to coaching him with the Lakers in his late 30s — Bryant inspired him in nearly every way.
“I was just blessed to be able to be around him,” said Byron, who added Kobe was “an unbelievable person.”
As we reported, 41-year-old Bryant died along with his daughter, Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter crash one year ago today.
The NBA world has paid homage to the legend in nearly every way since the wreck — with stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis getting Kobe tribute tattoos, and others, like Charles Barkley and J.R. Smith, remembering him publicly in recent days.
Byron says the legacy Kobe left behind is unquestioned … telling us he believes the former Lakers superstar is firmly in the conversation for greatest basketball player of all time.
TMZSports.com
There’s more … Byron and his wife are in the process of trying to help others avoid the tragedy of untimely deaths — creating COVID protection kits to attempt to slow the spread of the deadly virus.