coast. i'm richard lui. for those of you joining us this hour, we're following breaking news. retired nba basketball superstar kobe bryant has been killed in a helicopter crash in california. los angeles county sheriff's deputies responded around 10:00 a.m. pacific time to reports of a chopper crash on a hillside in the calabasas area. according to the l.a. county sheriff, the manifest indicated there were nine individuals on that aircraft. there were no survivors. among them, bryant's 13-year-old daughter gianna who was herself an aspiring basketball player. as well as a teammate of hers.

the teammate's parent, and a pilot. in los angeles, fans are gathering outside of staples center right now. the site of so many of bryant's greatest athletic moments. this is what's on the big screen there. they're there to celebrate his life and career. bryant was an 18-time nba all-star who won five championships with the los angeles lakers. bryant was expected to be inducted into the naismith basketball hall of fame on the first ballot this coming summer. he was 41 years old. we're awaiting a news conference from the ntsb. we expect that to be happening in 15 minutes. we'll go straight to that if we can. let's go live to southern california and calabasas,s where steve patterson is at. steve, last we spoke, we thought at least based on the information that was reportable, that there were five individuals on the helicopter. we learned there from law enforcement that there were nine. >> yeah. it's surreal scene here,

richard. as we keep learning more information, you can see it reverberate in the crowd that has gathered here. as we learn the information, we look down, and you can tell that people here who have gathered, who have traveled and then walked from their cars, police have this scene cordoned off for at least a mile in the direction that i came. so these people are parking their cars, they're walking all the way here. a lot of them sobbing. a lot of them in those kobe bryant jerseys and laker apparel. and then they get here, and you can see the reaction, not only to the scene that is behind me, but to the news that keeps reverberating. yes, we have now gone from five people to nine people including the pilot. yes, kobe bryant was onboard and his daughter is believed to be onboard as well. and so you can see, again, these people that are spasming and sobbing with tears in some cases. others just kind of gazing up at the scene that is still visible behind me. i can show it back to you right now. in the hillside, this is calabasas. that smoking wreckage up there.

believed to be where the crash site is. earlier, we believe we saw some investigators or at least teams that were very near the wreckage. it is a good thing that this crash area wasn't somewhere closer to a residential area. the only good news really that we have had is officials have said nobody on the ground was hurt or even really close to hurt. so crews now working to determine what exactly happened. it's sunny now, but it was very cloudy when we got here, visibility reported very poor. at the time of the crash. that may factor into the investigation as this continues. but i can tell you right now, people just standing here in stunned silence as some of them have been doing now for hours. a lot of them still not able to process and believe what has happened. even staring up at the actual crash site, richard. >> steve, i know it's tough to see on camera, probably just as difficult based on the cordon that officials have given all of the press. but how close is that crash site

to residential area, which it seems like you're standing close to at the moment? and we're now five hours in. it seems like it's still smoldering. >> it is still smoldering, richard. we're standing in a residential area. i'm surrounded by an apartment complex, a church parking lot off to my right, there's people gathered everywhere here. there's homes as far as i can see behind the camera. meanwhile, in front of the camera, you can see it's a barren hillside. i don't know, i haven't been able to look and check what it looks like on the other side, but i have been told through some reporting that's been done on the ground here that this is very near to where people could have been living, obviously. calabasas is a very densely populated affluent suburb. a lot of hills, a lot of homes, excuse me, not only in the valleys but that obviously dot the hillside. again, the only real good news that we have had is that this crash didn't happen somewhere more populated and involve the lives of other people who were on the ground looking up.

thankfully, it has crashed on this hillside, but to see, as you mentioned, the smoldering, the smoke rising up and sort of cutting in between some of the hillsides, it's an unbelievable sight, richard. >> i know they have closed down some of the tributaries moving into that very area just because of they're trying to let in the faa, for instance, as was reported. at the moment when they gave the press conference around 5:40, which was about 30 minutes ago, what the sheriff said is they're waiting for the coroner to arrive as well. what kind of activity are you seeing, and sometimes it's not identifiable, certainly, of the faa and the coroner? >> so i'll ask my photographer if he can not push up to the scene but back beyond where you see now police activity on the street. as they continue to serve almost a procession to where the next scene may be. looks like the sheriff's department is stationed there. we have seen teams of folks

going back and forth up into that area. not sure if we have seen actual coroners or investigators who are here to go up to the scene. a lot of this obviously that we're seeing from our perspective is simply crowd control. but there has been, i mean, the area has been buzzing and humming with activity. as i mentioned, the cordon goes back pretty far. they're blocking traffic now for a pretty significant distance that would affect people trying to get back to their homes, but for a good reason. this scene is really unbelievable. and if crews have to get to do their work, it's not the easiest scene in the world. obviously, it's pretty treacherous. that is steep terrain for anybody to get to. for them to get in to investigate what happened here, richard. it's going to be tough going. that's why they have such a tight lock on the scene here at this point. >> yeah, tough to see on camera, but you're on site, and you can see the very rolling hills thereat are less rolling and more steep there on site. steve patterson on the ground right now.

we'll get back to you as you're watching the faa, the coroner. we're watching here from 30 rockefeller center here, for the ntsb very shortly. we expect in the next 10 or 15 minutes to give us their briefing on the details. joining me now on set, the host of politics nation, president of the national action network, reverend al sharpton. he has worked with him and known kobe bryant for many years. also stephanie ruhle, nbc news senior business correspondent with us on set. let's start with you on what we're hearing from the latest details, steve patterson, stephanie. and your reporting earlier. rushed in here. you were telling us of just earlier at least, the amazing business brain that kobe bryant was. we also have the statement from nike that just came in, and i'll read it really quickly. we extend our deepest sympathies to those closest to kobe, especially his family and friends. he was one of the greatest athletes of his generation and has had an unmeasurable impact on the world of sport and the community of basketball.

he was a beloved member of the nicknamally. we will miss him greatly. mamba forever. >> and he was a nike athlete since back in 2004. and the amount of money kobe bryant made isn't what's important. obviously, a man's wealth doesn't define his worth. but the reason we're talking about his business is to really talk about the impact he had. right now, on nike's website, it says a quote from kobe, if you love the game, the game will love you. he gave himself the nickname black mamba. that's what his shoe was eventually named. there are 14 kobe bryant shoes over the last ten years. you currently have 102 players on the court wearing them. more than a wearing lebron shoes. it's a very, very big deal. adam silver, current chairman of the nba, put out a statement, and just think about this. in the last month, the nba community had to say good-bye to their former commissioner, david stern. so it's been a devastating

month. kobe bryant himself had put out a tweet when david stern passed, writing, the game changed in so many ways under david stern's leadership and vision. he demanded the best of everyone because he gave it himself. so just think about that. kobe bryant describing david stern in the way that people are now speaking about kobe bryant, who lost his life at only 41. why don't i share with you just a bit of what adam silver, the current commissioner said. he writes, the nba family is devastated by the tragic passing of kobe bryant and his daughter gianna. for 20 seasons, kobe showed us what is possible when remarkable talent blends with an absolute devotion to winning. he was one of the most extraordinary players in the history of our game with accomplishments that are legendary. five nba championships, an nba mvp award, 18 nba all-star selections, and two olympic gold medals. but he'll be remembered most for inspiring people around the world to pick up a basketball

and compete to the very best of their ability. he was generous with wisdom he acquired and saw it as his mission to share it with future generations of players taking special delight in passing his love of the game down to gianna. >> and rev -- >> i think when i hear stephanie talking about what silver said, adam is one that we have worked with a lot on a lot of things. i think when you understand the impact that kobe talked about with david stern dying, it reminds me of, as i shared with you earlier, at michael jackson's funeral, after i did the eulogy, how he talked to me about, wow, the impact somebody well known has. that's all i can think about today, coming back. is his brief discussion, we never had long meetings. we had different events. but the longest discussion was those few minutes he was like how michael really meant a lot to a lot of people because we're

in the staples center and there were hundreds outside, and now that's kobe. he had that kind of impact. when stephanie says how you have more players wearing his sneaker, that's a statement. that is a statement of admiration, because he was the ultimate player to them in terms of being a competitor. and i think that you can't underestimate the cultural and social impact kobe bryant had, beyond the fact he was a great basketball player. >> do you think he was wondering at that time, here, rev, did he grow with that moment? was he reflecting a time in his career that was different than kobe was when he was 18? because he was really thinking about, oh, my god, michael jackson gone. someone who is very important culturally? >> i think that we all are different at 30-something than we were at 18, but i don't think we all had the global impact. i think that he had to stop and think about the global impact of michael and what he himself was

doing. i think what was so admirable is that he never relaxed in it. you see some people that get a tenth as big as kobe and they're laying out at the beach. kobe just kept going. he was driven. >> he's one of the first nba players to truly have a global impact. i said it to you earlier. people talk he was raised in philadelphia. he was, lower marion. there's basically a shrine there. when he was 6 years old and his father retired from the na, he moved the family to italy where the father continued his basketball career. there, kobe learned spanish. he learned italian. but it was having a global footprint that his father pushed him to have for years. so when he joined the nba, he was one of the first to focus on china, one of the first to tour china, really gain huge fans there. he got his own reality show back in 2010, partnering with nike in china. his jersey was the top five seller in china for five years. think about how big that market

is. chinese state-run tv reported his death just a couple hours ago. >> china, very important to the nba. and kobe -- >> specifically kobe. his foundation has a separate arm specifically in china, focused on education and youth sports. >> and stephanie, just to underline the point that you're making, we're just showing some of the aerials here from the mamba sports academy, black mamba, you were alluding to earlier. it's reported that he was headed that way at that 9:00 hour. around 9:47, reportedly. potentially here. this is part of him being mid-arc in his career. in his existence. he wanted to teach more. >> it wasn't strange for him to be in a helicopter. i shared this with you earlier, an article from gq back in 2010. that's how kobe commuted to work. not necessarily in a glamorous way, but he was a family guy. he lived in newport beach and commuted to the staples center via helicopter. he said this is about my body.

my number one focus is my body and the sport. he couldn't sit in a car for two hours. so it wasn't strange to see kobe bryant in a helicopter. it's how he rolled. >> if you -- you meet so many different folks around the world here, rev. similar to who kobe bryant was and people that are now. is that when they open sports academies, when they start wanting to teach on a large level, it says a lot about what the two of you have reflected on. it's that next great thing they want to do. and taking responsibility for that, which they have been given. >> when you have reached the peak he has reached, and you start thinking about the second act in your life that i think former president obama referred to, it is very, very important to see how they want their second act, because that's how they want their legacy. and they could choose to do a lot of things. the fact that he wanted to teach, the fact that he wanted that institution there to teach

others and inspire other people shows you his self concept and who he saw himself as and the responsibility he has. and you can't do anything but admire that. i was getting tweets, reverend mark thompson sent me a text where people were tweeting in newport beach where he lived there was an accident a couple weeks ago, and he stayed with the victims. people of kind of just feel the kind of sensitivity he has. he was not the kind of social activist that kareem was, that when we would see each other, it was hello, and over the years it was more cordial, but he was not a guy to join a march. but he was the kind of guy that you know had the sensitivity, and he understood in his way he was a symbol to kids that came out of the philadelphias, that if you work hard, didn't take it for granted, you could do things. he spoke with his actions, and that action speaks louder than words. >> i did a profile on his career just a few years ago, and to

your very point, remember, it was many years ago when charles barkley rejected the idea of being a role model for kids. kobe bryant, and eventually charles barkley did become one, but kobe bryant embraced it. remember, he has spent many of the last few years playing with magic johnson. magic johnson, who went from a player to then being the president of the lakers, with a partial ownership. he's now sold that stake, but so kobe bryant has spent the last several years alongside magic johnson, who put out a statement today. he, of course, is devastated. so in terms of a second act, he had an extraordinary player to learn from. >> part of the second act, mike pescaw, host of a podcast, is with us also. we're watching, stephanie, that we're watching live pictures, aerials of those gathering at the mamba sports academy. part of the second act was not only the academy, mike, and we were talking about this. it's also his focus on the wnba. it's also the focus on his

daughter, gianna, who was also lost today, and her future as a basketball player. her future as being the next kobe that will not happen now. >> yeah, it's unspeakably tragic. and i think that it does all add up to one of the themes that we were talking about, a theme that kobe helped and also that kobe embodied, which is the centrality of the nba. embracing the wnba is something that the nba didn't always do, and maybe early in kobe's career, it was a little dismissed. but now it's seen as absolutely not even a question. it's not even seen as a virtue to do so. it's like, of course, why wouldn't we want to help grow the game to all of our children and all of the children around the world? and i just think about, i mean, i'm a sports fan. i'm a sports journalist. you know, one of the reasons that we like sports and love sports, respond to sports and

are so affected by a death of someone like kobe bryant is because it's this metaphor for life. and this takes on a couple veal ynlss, but when a sportsman dies young, that says something about our own mortality, but also what the nba is doing and what kobe bryant certainly helped to do and to cement is that sports, and his sport, is so important to so many people. white people, black people, male people, female people, all the people in between. and i think a guy like him and a sports like that are doing it more than maybe not just any other sport but almost any other civic or public institution. we have lost this sense of a mono culture, we're all siloed, and there aren't too many things that cut through to all of us, and look at the outpouring and look at the importance of a guy like kobe bryant. i think that it's telling us something about the importance of a guy like him and a sport

like the one he played. >> you know, stephanie, we're just getting this statement in from the wnba, and the question i think for those who are reflecting back on how he turned, how he moved from charges of sexual assault into this very special space of supporting the wnba as well as general quality, i'll read this and i would like to get your reflection on it given your reporting on the nba and kobe bryant. the wnba commissioner said this, quote, the wnba mourns the sudden and tragic loss of nba great kobe bryant. and his daughter gianna. kobe's support for the wnba and women's basketball along with his passion for helping young girls and boys follow their dreams made him a true legend for our sport. we admired him not just as a legendary basketball player but as a father, a youth coach, and a role model for future generations of athletes. on behalf of the wnba, it is an incredibly sad day for all of us. and we send our deepest condolences to his family and

all those who mourn his passing. that's the commissioner of the wnba. >> just think about that. this is a man who over the course of playing for the lakers for 20 years made $680 million. he could have had a celebrity appearance at a game here or there. but he was so much more than that to the wnba. he actually coached his daughter gianna's team. think about that time commitment. you would see him at big women's college games like uconn games or different wnba games on the court, and think about how important it's been for the wnba to garner more attention, more fans. when you have a guy like kobe bryant sitting on the floor next to his daughter at those games, huge for the league. >> yeah. that's a brand -- >> he was doing that as a dad. >> and it made a statement because there were many that were kind of reluctant to embrace the wnba from the nba.

and for kobe bryant, given his stature, to embrace it, and as steph says, to be involved in it, and then i think the most resounding statement is when the story was told earlier about how he said his daughter could be the next kobe bryant. bragging, when you play the footage of him saying that when someone said to him, are you going to have a son? the daughter said i could be the next kobe. he's telling the story. that breaks all kinds of social kind of barriers. for kobe bryant to say my daughter can do what i did has a lot more message in it than just a proud father. that's dealing with challenging that you don't have to be a certain sex to be as good as i am. and that's my daughter. and she didn't have to be my son to do it. that's a great statement. >> and think about the last week. lebron james, the king, on his own sneakers, having mamba for

life. lebron james, not someone who you often see celebrating other players. and kobe bryant was known, not to just be a fierce competitor against players on other teams. he pushed his own teammates. to see unprompted lebron james stand up as a laker and honor kobe bryant, it speaks to what a leader he really was. >> as he surpassed kobe bryant's record. >> kobe, first one to tweet about it. >> rolling coverage, i know the control room doesn't like that, but if we can pull up the piece of sound, where kobe bryant is reflecting about gianna, that would be great. first, i want to read this tweet that was put out by the academy. again, the mamba sports academy. they say this. they doubted a kid could make it in the nba, and he proved them wrong. they doubted he could win a championship, and he proved them wrong. they doubted he could make movies, and he won an oscar. like all great artists, kobe bryant proved the doubters wrong.

rest in peace. that is from the mamba sports academy. we're going to go straight to the ntsb, just in to msnbc, the very latest on what they know happening right now, coming from the crash in southern california. let's listen in. >> -- to investigate an accident involving a sikorsky-76b as in bravo helicopter, which crashed around 9:47 a.m. pacific standard time, in calabasas, california. on behalf of the ntsb, i would like to extend our deepest sympathies to those who lost loved ones in this tragic event. in total, we'll have a team of 18 who will be investigating the accident with expertise in operations, human performance, air worthiness, structures, and

power plans. we already have a staff person from the regional office on site. we will also have two staff members from our family assistance team who will be working with the families and other loved ones to help them get their resources that they need over the next couple of days and months. we are leaving in a few minutes. i expect we'll arrive late tonight. we're likely to have a media briefing some time tomorrow. please monitor our twitter, which is ntsb underscore newsroom, for those announcem t announcements. i have time for a couple of quick questions. if you'll raise your hand, state your name and your affiliation.

[ inaudible question ] >> the question is, what types of things will we be looking for. our team will be looking at the history of the pilot and whatever crew was onboard. we'll be looking at maintenance records of the helicopter. we'll be looking at records of the owner and operator of the helicopter. and a number of other things that we look at as part of the investigation. >> how soon do you anticipate getting to work tonight? >> that's hard to tell. the question is, how late will we be getting to work? we do have somebody who is on scene or en route from our western region office. and so when we get on scene, we'll have to assess what we're able to do at that time.

>> media on the ground is reporting nine people were killed in that crash. does the sikorsky normally carry nine people? >> the question is how many people can be carried in the sikorsky 76-b. we're trying to figure out what the configuration of that helicopter is. it really just depends on the configuration. that's something we're still trying to verify. one more question. [ inaudible question ] >> is it typical to send 18? i should clarify, it's not a total of 18 investigators. that includes our investigative staff. there's the investigative staff, there's the board members, there are a couple from media relations. there's our family assistance team. i think that covers it. but it's typical for any of our

investigations. this does not change anything. this is just how we would respond to any investigation. >> does this type of helicopter have a black box? that's something we'll have to look to as part of the investigation. we're still on our way there. so thank you very much. >> just watching a live briefing coming out of washington, d.c. at reagan national dca. they are now departing to southern california. about a six-hour flight. they'll get there when there is no daylight, and they were saying they will update what they know in the morning, pacific time, but as they depart now at 6:30, roughly local time, from reagan national in washington, d.c., 18 will be part of the team that are heading out there, including what they are calling a go team, ntsb reading straight from what they were saying earlier about an hour ago on ntsb newsroom on

their twitter account, they're launching a go team to investigate the january 26, 2020, crash of a sikorsky s-76b helicopter in calabasas, california. they're expected to arrive in california this evening. again, that will be sun down by then. joining us, greg fife, an nsnbc aviation analyst. you know what jennifer was just describing to us. you understand what is happening at the moment, but what is behind the scenes, as they try to answer some very tough questions? >> they do, and one of the things that they'll be doing en route, of course, is trying to continue to collect information. there was preliminary information, all of the news stations have been reporting about the weather and things like that, so they'll have their meteorologist pull all of the weather 9, as the team goes to l.a., they'll be coordinating exactly what activities they're going to do once they're able to get on scene.

they'll break the group up, so there will be an on scene investigative group and then there will be folks that are working in the command post that they set up to gather additional information. they'll go out to the airport. i believe the aircraft may have taken off out of van nuys, so they'll have folks retrieve all of the maintenance records and any operational information about the aircraft. there's a lot of things taking place right now so that when they land and they get set up and first daylight tomorrow, they'll be able to hit the ground running. >> as i was detailing, it's about sirx hours in the air before they get there, and it's sun down. can they do any work when they get on the ground on the site itself given there is no daylight? >> no, they won't put anybody in harm's way to go up there at night. it's really not beneficial. but there have been faa folks already up there. and local ntsb folks from the

regional office, so they'll be able to give them an in-briefing once the team lands as to what they saw, basically give them a good understanding of the scatter pattern, the wreckage. it's evident from looking at the photographs that the aircraft hit the ground with a high energy state, because there was a lot of destructive damage that the entire main rotor system is shredded, and the entire mast and rotor head has come completely off its transmission. that takes a lot of energy because those are very stout metal parts. so they're going to get a good in-briefing and they'll go out and start documenting the exact wreckage path, gps document each area, and determine what the flight path angle was, what the pitch attitude was, and they'll look for mechanical malfunctions or failures of the aircraft that may have caused or contributed to the accident. >> something you go well, but for those watching this at home, the sikorsky s-76, which is the

helicopter that crashed, it's u.s.-made, a medium sized commercial helicopter. a utility helicopter, it's manufactured by the sikorsky aircraft corporation. when you look at the company's website, they describe this particular helicopter as able to carry as many as 12 passengers, with a top speed of 176 miles per hour. and a range of almost 500 miles. something that would not necessarily be an issue here in southern california, given it was used, it's believed, as a commuter helicopter. what is the safety record, what is the reputation of this particular helicopter here, the sikorsky s-76b. >> the aircraft has been around for quite a long time. it's been in service, and it's primarily used, as you stated, more in a corporate type configuration. you see a number of these helicopters in and around the new york city area, and down in the d.c. area.

because it is a very reliable machine. it's capable of carrying up to 12, and again, depending on how they may have had an executive configuration, you can scale that down to as few as five or six or as many as 12. it all depends on how they have the aircraft outfitted. but from a reliability standpoint, the aircraft has always had a favorable reputation, both on the civilian side and the military variant of the same aircraft. it's a good, reliable aircraft. the big thing the board is going to look at when they get there is, of course, this being maintained as a civilian helicopter, they're going to want to really look at the maintenance history of the aircraft, make sure that the maintenance had been done properly, all of the appropriate air worthiness and service bulletins the faa may have published and the manufacturer complied with because they're

looking for evidence of a mechanical malfunction. that's one part, and they'll also look at the operations aspect. many people reported the weather was very bad, so the question is, why did they attempt to fly? why did the pilot make the decision to fly in that area? and under what circumstances was he flying so low that he hit the hill? >> nine onboard, it can carry up to 12. that not an issue or consideration here? >> i don't believe so, only because based on some of the early information i have gotten, they weren't going on a very long flight. so you typically will trade fuel for passengers and baggage. in this case, since it was more of a local type flight, there's probably not so much a weight issue. now again, every aircraft has weight and balance. so if the aircraft isn't properly loaded, that's one thing that the board will look at, and that can always play into the accident sequence itself. >> all right, thank you so much. former ntsb investigator and an

msnbc aviation analyst, reflecting on the ntsb's latest press briefing that finished about five minutes ago, saying according to jennifer holmday, their rrp taking off from the east coast from washington, d.c., and reagan national dca. there is a go team of about 18 headed to calabasas to try to determine how did that sikorsky crash at 10:00 a.m. local time today with kobe bryant, his daughter gianna, as well as seven others this hour. thank you again, greig. i appreciate it. i believe we're going to take a break, and we will be right back with more rolling coverage of the death of kobe bryant and the crash of his helicopter this morning. this commute's been pretty rough, huh? it's great actually, i've been listening to audible. it's audiobooks, news, meditations... gotta go! ♪

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on the death of kobe bryant. you have live pictures right now, as you can see, coming in to us. it's live at the staples center in southern california, where the great kobe bryant played so many games before retirement. many gathering to remember him as we're taking in live pictures. coming and going there. there is also, as we're covering today's story, these sorts of gatherings in many locations. fans reacting and remembering the good times as well as

unfortunately remembering kobe bryant in a sad way today as he died in a helicopter crash in southern california. the pelicans today, for instance, they put out a couple tweets. the players will be wearing the kobe bryant sneakers during the national anthem. that's what the pelicans did today. this is the tweet that they shared. and during that game, a moment of silence for 24 seconds. the very jersey number of kobe bryant. 2-4. in addition, as more sunday evening games start this hour and in recent hours, at the spurs/raptors game in san antonio, texas, also a moment of silence. at madison square garden, with the knicks/nets game, also a moment of silence. mike pesca is still with us. we're going to see a lot more of that today, because kobe bryant meant so many to so many people. >> yeah. he wore actually two uniform

numbers. 8 and 24. and he changed uniform numbers after he won three titles with a teammate, shaquille o'neal, as his teammate. and soon thereafter, he wanted a new start. he wanted to show the world that he was doing it in a different way and on his own. and there, as i was watching the visual from the people who had gathered around the staples center, you saw some number 8 jerseys. you saw some number 24 jerseys. and the picture that the staples center itself had put on was him in his suit jacket, which showed what he was becoming, what he had been embodying the last couple years, the businessman. this goes back to the theme, richard, you and i have talked about, that this was midarc, midarc for kobe bryant, a guy who, by the way, could take all manner of arc off his shot to adapt to a defender, by the way. he could shoot it with -- he could shoot it flat, straight, get backboard, but it does show he had a varied mindset throughout his career, and he

meant a lot of -- he meant a lot to a lot of people at different times in different ways and was always growing, which is i think significant. >> you know, rev, you covered many a loss of some of our great american heroes. and you know, we're just reflecting on the games just starting in the last couple hours. going to see more of this. how do you bring this all together? >> i think that the best way to bring it together is to really respect the way the person would have wanted to be remembered. and i think when you think of kobe, who always talked about the work ethic and not taking it for granted, and he would go and put his all in, and then the development of what he's doing with mamba, which we just showed his way of training and trying to give some kind of backbone to a lot of young people who may not have had that kind of vigor in their life.

and i'm sure he was also teaching them, you have to have that work ethic. i don't care how gifted you are, you have to work at your gift. you have to keep going. i think that's how you bring it together. you bring people together, their legacy together, by how they live their life and how they wanted to be remembered. and i think even i'm sure it was not something that he would have known or planned or in any way to leave at 41, he lived his life in a way that you can only tell the story, you don't have to create it. he did not have to make us make something up tonight. we don't have to fabricate something. he lived it. >> and both of those jerseys, 8 and 24, were retired. think of that. he played for one team his entire career. and then i don't know if you mentioned it earlier, he won an academy award for a short animated film, dear basketball. based, think about this for a moment, based on a poem that he wrote, an ode to the love of the

game. so when this guy retired, he wasn't sitting on a beach. he wrote a poem about the game, which then won an oscar. come on now. >> and stephanie, you're talking about the many arcs mike was talking about in his career, and he's mid-arc in his life, and one is in entertainment. you mentioned the oscar. this just coming in also. the grammy awards pretelecast ceremony opened with a moment of silence for kobe bryant. he had so many different arcs at the same time. >> so many different arcs. i just told reverend al during commercial. i did a profile of kobe bryant a few years ago. during the interview, he had said to me and his team, you should really meet the president of roc nation on a friendly basis. i went immediately after and met the president of roc nation, jay brown, and talked to jay about spending the day with kobe bryant, training with him for a day. jay was telling me about his sixth grade son. i said does your son love

basketball? he said of course, and he loves kobe. i pulled out the mamba 7s kobe had given me. i said i can't accept these. i was going to bring them back to the studio. do you think your son would like them? i give him those mamba 7s. i then became a friend for years. >> a superhero. >> to a sixth grade boy. a pair of kobe sneakers that hadn't been out yet. think about that. i profile an athlete who at the end says you should really meet a sports and music agent, and that's hi that happened. >> he's reached so many different people. >> and jay's son is a big fan of stephanie ruhle's show because of that every day. >> there you go. >> that carries a lot of currency. the passing of kobe bryant, we're going to take a short break here on msnbc and be right back. >> the way we approach the game, the same way we approach life. do the right thing, make the right play. make the right play. life is the same thing. what do you feel in your heart is the right thing to do?

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only time i touch a basketball now is to shoot with gianna. she would challenge you, though. she absolutely would. my best thing is when we go out, people come up to us, like it will be me and gianna. kobe, when you going to have a boy? when you going to have a boy? gianna is looking at them. you need a boy to carry on your legacy. she's like, i got this. you don't need a boy to do that. i'll take care of this. >> good parenting. >> like the greatest thing ever. >> a very special interview there. live pictures now. kobe bryant passing, also gigi, the nickname for his 13-year-old daughter, gianna. this at staples center in southern california. as people gather, as you can tell, en masse. many quite sad about the passing. also those celebrating his career, as well in basketball as thereafter, and stephanie ruhle, we played that because of that special bond that he had.

and you didn't often get to see a kobe bryant express himself like that. >> but that's the most important part about this man's life, and the reverend al said it before, he was a father. a father of four daughters. think was her coach. supported the wnba and women's college hoops in such a way that elevated the sport and he did it for his own girl. >> i bet gianna was coaching him is what it was. >> no doubt. >> i think it showed, as you replayed that tape, is he volunteered the story. it wasn't like the interviewer raised it. he said, oh, let me tell you what gigi did. and this is really coming from him. he was really genuinely proud,

which breaks down a lot of barriers, because imagine the men watching that that says kobe bryant thinks his dotker do what he did. it changes the concept of i wish i had a boy to be like me. he flipped that and only someone of his stater can do that. >> and you need folks like kobe bryant saying things like that. i think he would agree. you've covered kobe for 20 years. >> i spent a lot of time in and around. i saw almost every one of his nba games. probably in the 70 percentile. it had to be fake. couldn't be real and you see that it is real. the entire city is mourning. i have people reaching out to me across the nba and expressing

how sad they are at the loss of kobe bryant. >> this one crosses all bleachers. doesn't matter. all jerseys at this moment. it does not matter that which you wear because people remember kobe bryant. you and i talked a couple of hours ago, erick. how has the mood evolved? this develops awareness and a lot energy of both celebration of what kobe bryant did, as well as the sadness around this loss as well. >> reporter: it's a lot of tears for a lot of people, myself included. my job is to be professional and to take away some of the human side and just report and analyze what i see and try not to include myself in what i'm covering. but you get to know these players, these coaches, the people in and around the nba for as long as i've been doing this. and it takes on more than

just -- this is a very good basketball player. this is an adult who grew up in front of us. he came in as a child, really. 17/18 years old. and the city has always had a love for kobe and internationally, nationally, he's had his up and downs but by and large the legacy of kobe has been a powerful one. seeing him gone, the outpouring around the league. players crying on the benches. you see lebron landing -- i saw footage of him being hugged by one of the executives of the lakers. the team's taking shot clock violations chrksz are 24-second count to honor kobe bryant. it's everywhere. it's wherever you go. i don't want it to be real and i still want to deny it but him losing gigi as well and

vanessa -- that hits home and i have three daughters and they play youth basketball. kobe and i were in the same circle. we're both dads loving our girls, our daughters, helping them grow up and learn how to be young women and, because we both love basketball, be young athleetds. >> an honest, personal note from eric pincus. >> we're talking about the impact on the sport, on fans. his wife. gianna was 13 years old going to a game with her dad. think all about what -- the family who has lived in the public eye -- vanessa has been in the public eye for 20 years. she went through so much and is raiseing all her girls, the ups and downs and what that ma'am family must by going through today. >> and as we hear from so many, stephanie.

clearly you can hear eric and you can hear the difficulty he has because he became a friend clearly after two decades. >> they're basketball dads. eric talked about one of the greatest players in the game. we're two dads trying to raise our dotters to be smart, brave young women and also athletes. a reporter covering kobe bryant who can feel that kind of connection as a sports dad. >> at the everyone of your shows on "politics nation" you finish with a thought, take us out with a thought. >> i think thought is we do not know how we will meet our end, so we should take very seriously how we do what we do. and kobe bryant did that. he did that in a way that people of all races and religions and age and gender are stunned and touched because he touched us.

and he didn't plan to do it later. he did it in the height of his career, he did it all the way to the end. so, even if you don't know what the end is, make sure you know what they're going to be able to say about you at the end. because kobe went out a real champ. >> thank you for our breaking news coverage. stephanie ruhl, thank you for our news coverage. we will continue the coverage of the breaking news story, the death of kobe bryant. kasie hunt picks up the coverage after this. kasie hunt picks up the coverage after this ®! ♪ (announcer) once-weekly ozempic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like james lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! (announcer) and you may lose weight.

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♪ welcome to "kasie d.c." i'm kasie hunt. tonight, breaking news. five-time world champion and basketball legend, kobe bryant, has died after a helicopter crash. we're live from california and i'm going to talk live. plus, a big scoop for "the "new york times."" am the president told john bolton he wanted to freeze aid. and i talked to all three of the women making