Ed Davis left the practice facility in shock. When the Utah Jazz center arrived at his home Sunday afternoon, he hugged his wife and children. He turned on the television, saw the footage of a wreckage in the Los Angeles hills, saw the tearful tributes to a basketball legend.
Then Davis typed his friend’s name into his phone and started scrolling through old text messages. He found one from the summer of 2014 when Davis had joined a Los Angeles Lakers team everyone knew was lottery-bound.
Kobe Bryant’s message stood in stark contrast.
“He was talking about winning championships,” Davis said.