How tragic is Kobe Bryant's death?

Now I am one of the masses who does not know Kobe Bryant.   I like some people am not a particularly big basketball fan.  In fact, I lost total interest in the sport not long after he started his pro-career.
Now for friends and family and anyone close to Kobe Bryant or the other victims I am sure their death is a huge shock and tagedy and I will say a prayer for them.
Yet there will be a large population of people who claim this to be a tragedy for unrelated reasons.
This article is not meant to be personal, but it is meant for those who are swept up in such a phenomena and asks the question of what relevance is this and what are our values in doing it?

One reported has called this to be the equivalent of the JFK assassination. That everyone would remember where they were at on that day.
Why is this man so important?   Why are millions of people to treat this man on the same level of a king or world ruler?
Well he was great at playing basketball.  They like say he may have been the GOAT.  Which is supposed to mean "greatest of all time".  (Although religiously this conjures up images of the satanic Baphomet but that is unrelated.)

I was reading this article.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/how-will-kobe-bryant-be-remembered-as-greatness-with-an-edge/ar-BBZlUW4?ocid=spartanntp

“There’s a choice that we have to make as people, as individuals,” Bryant said on a 2015 Showtime special. “If you want to be great at something, there’s a choice you have to make. We all can be masters at our craft, but you have to make a choice. What I mean by that is, there are inherent sacrifices that come along with that.
“Family time, hanging out with friends, being a great friend, being a great son, nephew, whatever the case may be. There are sacrifices that come along with making that decision.”

So his time as a family man was sacrificed to gain the glory of basketball.

“I had a workout with the Lakers, beat all the guards out for the starting position, earned a spot on the team,” Smush Parker once said during an interview with Hard 2 Guard Radio. “Midway through the first season, I tried to at least have a conversation with Kobe Bryant – he is my teammate, he is a co-worker of mine, I see his face every day I go in to work – and I tried to talk with him about football.“He tells me I can’t talk to him. He tells me I need more accolades under my belt before I come talk to him. He was dead serious.”

So he was not a friend to people he worked with.

"Like the mamba, Bryant was not cuddly. His greatness came with an undeniable edge and his reputation still bears the taint of a 2003 sexual assault case that was dropped when Bryant’s accuser refused to testify."

So he did not have a spotless reputation.

But he was "inspirational"“Seeing him come straight out of high school (to the NBA), he is someone that I used as inspiration,” James said of Bryant. “It was like ‘Wow.’ Seeing a kid, 17 years old, come into the NBA and trying to make an impact on a franchise, I used it as motivation. He helped me before he even knew of me because of what he was able to do.”
  Another word that means bearing the word of God.  So here, does the word of God mean skipping a higher education to play a game and get rich?

This was the time where I lost interest in basketball.  What is it worth?"Bryant would win five NBA titles with the Lakers and two Olympic gold medals with Team USA. Less than 24 hours before Bryant's death, LeBron James surpassed him for third place on the NBA’s career scoring list."
So what does all those victories mean now?
These sports mean something for clothing lines and the world of advertising.  But does it really make a difference in my life?  Not a bit.  I asked a friend today about it and he had the same opinion.
Mark 8:³⁴ And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ³⁵ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. ³⁶ For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? ³⁷ Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
The glory of the father is forever, but the glory of the NBA and any franchise is temporal.

Hopefully I have a limited view.  Perhaps Bryant was a better human being than how he is here remembered.  Maybe he gave to charities and such.  But 

apparently this is not the first thoughts of people concerning his legacy and I just wonder if this is not the problem.

What are the things that we assume to be inspirational?