Since the tragedy that claimed nine lives including Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant, the entire world has been praying for all of the families involved.
Amid the sadness, the NBA is doing its best to honor Bryant with teams committing shot clock violations and players changing their numbers.
As the Los Angeles Lakers and players recently made their first statements, Vanessa Bryant has broken her silence about her husband and daughter.
In a heartbreaking post, Bryant’s wife thanked fans for their support and asked for respect and privacy during this difficult time, via Instagram:
View this post on Instagram
My girls and I want to thank the millions of people who’ve shown support and love during this horrific time. Thank you for all the prayers. We definitely need them. We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe — the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna — a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri. We are also devastated for the families who lost their loved ones on Sunday, and we share in their grief intimately. There aren’t enough words to describe our pain right now. I take comfort in knowing that Kobe and Gigi both knew that they were so deeply loved. We were so incredibly blessed to have them in our lives. I wish they were here with us forever. They were our beautiful blessings taken from us too soon. I’m not sure what our lives hold beyond today, and it’s impossible to imagine life without them. But we wake up each day, trying to keep pushing because Kobe, and our baby girl, Gigi, are shining on us to light the way. Our love for them is endless — and that’s to say, immeasurable. I just wish I could hug them, kiss them and bless them. Have them here with us, forever. Thank you for sharing your joy, your grief and your support with us. We ask that you grant us the respect and privacy we will need to navigate this new reality. To honor our Team Mamba family, the Mamba Sports Foundation has set up the MambaOnThree Fund to help support the other families affected by this tragedy. To donate, please go to MambaOnThree.org. To further Kobe and Gianna’s legacy in youth sports, please visit MambaSportsFoundation.org. Thank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers, and for loving Kobe, Gigi, Natalia, Bianka, Capri and me. #Mamba #Mambacita #GirlsDad #DaddysGirls #Family 
A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 
(@vanessabryant) on Jan 29, 2020 at 4:59pm PST
As Bryant states in her post, the Mamba Sports Foundation has also created the MambaOnThree Fund to help support the other families affected by this unfortunate tragedy. If you want to donate, please visit MambaOnThree.org.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the families involved.
