He died at the young age of 41 in 2020 yet went far back enough as a major star that he had an N64 game devoted to his name at age 18 or 19 from last century. The 5 NBA championships weren't a bad achievement either.
That you should tell enough about the cultural impact he had, less so in the UK obviously, but I've known who he was since owning Kobe Bryant's NBA Courtside for N64 back in 1998 or so, then later as he was accused of a serious crime he was in the news again over here.
Acquitted with some doubt but he was still a devoted family man who died with his young daughter, extremely tragic, though likely was very fast for all involved.
The helicopter pilot was a hugely experienced instructor, yet he still flew into a mountain at 185mph at a height of 1700 feet - seems even with all that experience the fog was devastating.
They weren't even travelling that far, could have easily been a road journey instead, but road crashes are higher statistically, you just never know when the end could be.