LeBron James spoke at the Staples Center, ahead of the LA Lakers' first game since the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, as well as John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah and Payton Chester, and Christina Mauser and Ara Zobayan.
LeBron James acknowledged everyone who lost their lives in the helicopter crash in Calabasas, Los Angeles, and then spoke to the crowd from his heart.
"I got something written down. They asked me to stay on course or whatever the case may be, but, Laker Nation, I would be selling you short if I read off this so I'm going to go straight from the heart.
"The first thing that comes to mind, man, is all about family. When I look around this arena, we're all grieving, we're all hurt, we're all heartbroken. But when we go through something like this, the best thing we can do is lean on the shoulders of your family. And from Sunday morning all the way up until this point, now, I heard about Laker Nation before I got here last year, about how much of a family it is, and that is absolutely what I've seen this whole week.
"Not only from the players, not only from the coaching staff, not only from the organisation, but from everybody. Everybody that's here - this is really, truly, truly a family. And I know Kobe and Gianna, and Vanessa and everybody, thank you guys from the bottom of their hearts as Kobe said.
"Now I know at some point, we will have a memorial for Kobe, but I look at this as a celebration tonight. This is a celebration of the 20 years of the blood, the sweat, the tears, the broken-down body, the getting up, the sitting down, the everything, the countless hours, the determination to be as great as he could be - tonight, we celebrate the kid that came here at 18 years of age, retired at 38, and became probably the best dad we've seen over the past three years, man.
"Tonight is a celebration. Before we get to play, I love you all man, Kobe is a brother to me. And from the time I was in high school, watching him from afar, to getting in this league at 18, watching him up close, all the battles we had throughout my career, the one thing we always shared is that determination to win, and just wanting to be great.
"The fact that I'm here now means so much to me. I want to continue along with my teammates to continue his legacy, not only for this year, but for as long as we can keep playing the game that we love, because that's what Kobe Bryant would want.
"So in the words of Kobe Bryant, 'Mamba Out', but in the words of us, 'Not Forgotten'. Live on brother."