Not a basketball fan but really can't state how big of a megastar he was, I honestly can't think of a football comparison that would be on this level, as far as he's seen in the US. Being in LA right now the only thing that I've experienced akin to this was Princess Diana dying.
Such awful news. ABC here in the US reporting that his daughters were onboard, but no-one else is saying that yet so hopefully is just bad reporting and social media getting out of control. Shocking