Rick Fox was a dead man walking on Sunday, due to some horrible reporting that circulated around the internet.
A media member spread a rumor that indicated Fox was on the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas, along with Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gigi. As such, it was believed that he, too, had perished.
But it couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Fox was actually at home with his family, when his phone began ringing off the hook. He explained how it felt to have the death rumor circulating, and to be on the other end of it, on “Inside the NBA.”
“One of my daughter’s greatest fears is finding out that a parent or one of her parent’s would be lost through social media instead of from a loved one or a family member,” he began. “And she fortunately called me, and we just were talking, crying about the news of Kobe. And my son. We started – we were talking. I was talking to my kids trying to spend the time with them.
Then, the phone just started going off. And I’m thinking to myself, “Everybody wants to talk about Kobe. And I right now want to be with my kids and my family.” And then all of a sudden, my best friend, King Rice, who’s a basketball coach.He walked off the court at Iona, and somebody apparently told him that I have may have been on the helicopter. And he started calling. So, I’m seeing King’s number repeatedly going and going and going and think he’s worried about. So, I said I’m going to talk to my best friend. And I answered it, and I said, “Hey, man. This is crazy about Kobe.” And he just was bawling. And I started crying. And he’s like, “You’re alive.” And I’m thinking, “Well, yeah. What do you mean?”
And it was in that moment, my phone just started going. And my mom and my sister and my brother.
And so, look, this has been a lot to process for all of us. Quite frankly, we’re blessed to have had the time we had with Kobe. A city is mourning. A family is mourning. We’re all morning. And I’m glad that’s over with. But it was hard to deal with, because it shook a lot of people in my life.”
It gives us chills just thinking about it.
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