mousesports honors Kobe Bryant with custom jerseys at ICE event

As mousesports climbs the ladder of the 2020 ICE Challenge, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team took a moment to commemorate Kobe Bryant, a recently deceased NBA player.

Mousesports’ CSGO team advanced to the 2020 ICE Challenge semifinals after defeating Virtus.Pro 2-0 earlier today. Ahead of the game, mousesports took a 2-0 victory against MAD Lions for the spot in the Group A winners’ match, and now the team is waiting to see who its semifinal opponent will be.

The second to the best team on HLTV’s world ranking, mousesports won quite a few titles in the past couple of months, including the 2019 CSGO Asia Championship and Season 10 ESL Pro League Finals. If the team will get the opportunity for another title at the ICE Challenge in London fans will find out on February 5.

Given the results, it seems mousesports is spending a lot of time practicing CSGO. But that didn’t stop the team to take a moment to commemorate Kobe Bryant.

Kobe was an inspiration to many esports athletes

Mousesports shared an Instagram picture of the team wearing white number 24 jerseys with Kobe’s name as the player tag. Number 24 was the Los Angeles Lakers superstars’ jersey number.

Kobe was among the greatest basketball players of all time. He played with Lakers for 20 years, during which time he earned five NBA championship titles and was an All-Star 18 times. He retired in 2016 in part due to injuries piling up.

He wasn’t just an idol to sports enthusiasts over the world, Kobe’s performance influenced many lives. This includes esports players whose hearts were touched by his dedication to his craft and his kindness, particularly later in his career, that he showed outside of the game. Kobe was a father of four children, and was often putting his efforts into charitable activities. He was interested in the gaming industry too, as he was one of the Epic Games’ investors.

Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in California on January 26. His daughter and seven other passengers lost their lives as well. People all over the world have been mourning this tragic loss ever since.