Kobe Bryant posthumously elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Kobe Bryant, a five-time NBA champion and the fourth all-time leading scorer in league history, has been posthumously elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

The 18-time NBA All-Star played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning the league MVP once and the finals MVP twice. He also captured two Olympic gold medals.

"It's (an) incredible accomplishment and honor," Bryant's widow, Vanessa, told ESPN. "We're extremely proud of him. Obviously, we wish he was here with us to celebrate. "But it's definitely the peak of his NBA career and every accomplishment he had as an athlete was a stepping stone to being here."

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss said in a statement, "No amount of words can fully describe what Kobe Bryant meant to the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe was not only a proven winner and a champion, he gave everything he had to the game of basketball. His fierce competitiveness, work ethic and drive were unmatched.

"Those qualities helped Kobe lead us to five titles -- and have now brought him to the Hall of Fame, where he will be enshrined with the greatest to have ever played the game. No one deserves it more."

Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Tamika Catchings are among other notable ball players going into the Hall of Fame.

[SOURCE: CNN]

Tim Duncan raises over a million dollars for U.S. Virgin islands after Hurricane Irma

Retired NBA superstar and five time champion with the San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan has proven once again that he is a champion both on and off the court. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, the U.S. Virgin Islands native penned a piece on The Player's Tribune asking for donations to help the islands which were devastated after the storm hit.

Duncan wrote:

Right now as I type this, the U.S. Virgin Islands — the place where I was born and where I grew up — has been badly damaged by Hurricane Irma. The people there, many of whom are old friends of mine, are suffering. Weather reports say that another Category 5 storm, Hurricane Jose, is close behind. No one knows what the place will look like when the rain stops.

Now time is of the essence.

I’m donating $250,000 immediately — tonight — to the storm relief efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands. And going forward, I pledge to match your donations up to the first $1 million. That’s where you come in: You can go here to make a donation.

In response donors have given over 1 million dollars to help the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands at the time of this posting.

"I'm blown away by it," Duncan said Sunday during a news conference at the San Antonio Food Bank. "In this day and age, it's a little easier to reach a lot of people, and people have come out from everywhere. I've looked down the list of donors, and I've recognized some names. I've gotten support from the Spurs, H-E-B and the food bank -- all across the board. It's just been an amazing response."