We saw video of LeBron James sobbing as he learned the news, just a day after he had soliloquized about Kobe as he passed him in the record books. We saw Tiger Woods, who had been playing in a golf tournament when the news broke, as soon as he heard. We watched Dwyane Wade’s raw selfie video, his weary face taking up the whole screen, his eyes puffy from weeping. “Today is one of the saddest days of my lifetime,” Wade said with a broken heart emoji over the screen. “I wanted to be respected by him and when I reached that level I know I did something.” He wiped his eyes.

On Sunday, the games went on. In San Antonio, the Raptors and the Spurs devised a moving tribute just hours after the news broke. To honor Kobe, who wore the number 24, the Raptors held the ball for a 24-second violation; then the Spurs did the same. It was hard to picture that ever happening before, or happening again. The entire stadium chanted “Ko-be, Ko-be.”

Tragedy has struck the basketball world before, of course. Len Bias died of a drug overdose the night he was drafted, never making it to the N.B.A. Reggie Lewis died of a heart attack while practicing. Magic Johnson announced that he had H.I.V., but came back and won the All-Star Game’s M.V.P. award. But an icon like Kobe, dying like this? Pro basketball’s history books are blank.