Fans have paid tribute to Bryant outside Staples Center and the Lakers have hired grief counselors for playersGETTY IMAGES
The NBA postponed the Clippers-Lakers game originally scheduled for tonight in honor of Kobe Bryant's death, and it "will be rescheduled" for a later date, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY. The league said the decision was "made out of respect for the Lakers organization, which is deeply grieving." Lakers Controlling Owner & CEO Jeanie Buss was "always close with Bryant," while VP/Basketball Operations & GM Rob Pelinka was "one of Bryant's close friends and was his agent." A source said that the Lakers "brought in grief counselors for group and one-on-one sessions" in the wake of Sunday's helicopter crash. Since the Lakers and Clippers share an arena, league and team execs "believe they can find a reasonable date to play the game" (USA TODAY, 1/28). ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski cited sources as saying that discussions among the NBA, Lakers and Clippers "took place over several hours before the NBA's decision, with the Clippers honoring the Lakers' request to postpone" (ESPN.com, 1/27).
AN ORGANIZATION MOURNS: In DC, Ben Golliver cites a source as saying that there was "internal debate among Lakers decision-makers about how to handle the game." The source said that the team "weighed playing so the public grieving process could begin against postponing the game out of respect for Bryant's family." The Lakers eventually "asked the league for the postponement" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/28). In L.A., Tania Ganguli writes the "grief and devastation permeating the Lakers organization was still thick and painful" yesterday. Playing a game tonight "remained unfathomable." Discussions on "whether or not the game should go on as scheduled began Sunday, with the league opting to defer to the Lakers." Yesterday also would have been late Lakers Owner Jerry Buss' 87th birthday, and the team was "planning to honor" him during tonight's game, "before Sunday's crash changed everything" (L.A. TIMES, 1/28).
THE RIGHT REACTIONS: In L.A., Mirjam Swanson notes tickets for the now-postponed game on StubHub had "hiked up to $1,000 and more, more than five times what they cost prior to Sunday morning." Before the postponement, StubHub posted on its site, telling customers it would "donate 100% of the fees of tickets sold on StubHub for the January 28 Lakers vs Clippers game to the Kobe & Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 1/28). The AP's Tim Reynolds writes the NBA "absolutely made the right call in postponing." The "entire league is grieving" for Bryant, and the players are "not ready to play." For the most part, the "games have gone on and will continue to do so." But to ask the Lakers and Clippers to play "would have simply been too much for those teams and their heartbroken city" (AP, 1/28).
HEAVY DECISION TO MAKE: The POST's Golliver notes the NBA league office on Sunday "faced a major logistical dilemma as word of Bryant's death spread," as there were "eight games on the schedule, including one that tipped" less than an hour after the news broke. A source said that the NBA "received no formal requests from teams to postpone Sunday's games." However, out of "respect to the players and coaches, the league allowed its teams to cancel pregame media availability sessions for players and to defer all player interviews until after the games." One factor "weighing on the postponement decision was the difficulty involved in rescheduling so many games and the complicated nature of making a judgement call on a tragedy that could stand as precedent in the future" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/28). Celtics coach Brad Stevens said that while he "did not have a say in the decision" for Sunday's Celtics-Pelicans game to go on, the "possibility of canceling games was discussed at higher levels" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/28).
