NBA 2K20 Pays Tribute To Kobe Bryant After His Tragic Death

Following the tragic passing of NBA legend Kobe Bryant on January 26, the NBA 2K20 team and fans of the sports franchise have started a series of in-game tributes to memorialize the famed Lakers player, who has been an important part of the video game franchise.

Developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K Sports updated NBA 2K20 to acknowledge Bryant's untimely death with a new splash screen across all platforms, commemorating the life of one of basketball's greatest shooting guards.

The official NBA 2K20 Twitter account paid tribute to Bryant with a message of its own, saying his "many contributions on and off the court" will be greatly missed. Some developers on the NBA 2K series also shared condolences across Twitter, with many sharing intimate behind-the-scenes shots and touching anecdotes about their time meeting and working with the Lakers legend.

Game makers aren't the only people mourning the loss and celebrating the life of Bryant, whose nickname throughout his career was "The Black Mamba." The NBA 2K20 community is coming together to remember Bryant by dressing in Lakers attire. Elsewhere in the game, players are attempting to recreate Bryant in-game using the create-a-player feature, while others are stalling games to take a moment of silence.

Bryant was on his way to a basketball game with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna when the helicopter the two were aboard unexpectedly crashed in Calabasas, California Sunday morning, killing seven other people in the process. Bryant, who was expected to coach a game his daughter was said to be playing in, was 41 years old. A cause for the crash has yet to be determined and reports suggest it could take days before any information is divulged.

Kobe Bryant has appeared in every NBA 2K game since its inception, last appearing on the franchise's cover athlete for NBA 2K17's Legend and Legend Gold Editions.