"All of the NBA players are important, because they're legends, but he's particularly important to us because he knew Italy so well, having lived in several cities here," Italian basketball federation president Giovanni Petrucci told The Associated Press. Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died Sunday in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, California.