RIP Kobe Bryant

Will Jabbar, Magic and West receive the same treatment?

 

Sure. If they're flying to the funeral together on a helicopter and it crashes.

 

It's been said that death is a growth industry ...

 

Magic will get the star treatment. Then West. Then KAJ.

 

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No, no, and no.

Abdul-Jabbar won't because he wasn't as well liked/understood as Bryant, and has been vocal/resentful about his own misunderstanding of that.

Magic might have, but won't, because of the HIV, his announcement of it, and the fact that his retirement occurred long ago now. I always got the sense that there was some, well, resentment of the fact that Magic has been able to live so long with HIV, and some question about how he has done that, and been so lucky to do so. People realized he was not like everyman, and not in a good way, because of it, and a "connection" to him was lost. His HIV, although the effect has been muted by Magic's own wonderful personality and seeming normalcy since, had sort of the same impact that Bryant's rape allegation did, and it will taint his legacy.

West should have and would have, except then he went to the Grizzlies, and his would-be "lifelong Laker" edge was lost. It seemed like sort of an anticlimactic move at the time, and I'm not sure anyone in LA has ever really understood it. His entire identity to that point had been wrapped up in the Lakers -- it still is, in most fans' minds -- only now, there's element of hurt and misunderstanding and some loss of affection, probably going both ways.

That never happened with Kobe, who never left the Lakers, only fairly recently retired, so the memories of his play and impact were clearer, and even seemed almost still-active, and he was still in the prime of life when he died.

 

If you think Magic's HIV status is a factor in this I don't know what to tell you other than you are wildly, wildly wrong.

Magic won't get quite this reaction because he isn't a 41 year old guy four years removed from playing who just died in a shocking helicopter crash. It'll still be huge, though.

Kareem and West are revered but not like the other two.

 

And helped build the Warriors dynasty. And now is helping the Clippers. So sad that his Lakers days ever ended in the first place.

 

Lakers are a family business and run with all of the good and ill that comes with that.

 

The people who followed West's playing days are now dead.

 

It'll depend somewhat on whether Magic's eventual death appears to have anything to do with HIV. At this point he's 60 and massively heavy.

A completely random accident such as a helicopter crash would be all different.