The impact of Bryant’s career, and the ‘Mamba Mentality,’ carry on in the kind of way that almost makes you forget that he’s gone.

LOS ANGELES – On the side of a gym in downtown Los Angeles, two figures with angelic wings – Kobe Bryant, who won five National Basketball Association titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, and his daughter Gianna – are depicted together in the clouds. Near one feather, the words “Do not touch this mural” are sprayed in a faded white script.

Somehow, with all that has happened between that awful moment and now, it remains surreal and hard to believe that it was five years ago today that Kobe Bean Bryant, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others,