The Sixers beat the Lakers one night before Kobe Bryant died. They return to Philly, still in disbelief, one day after the tragic anniversary.

The calendar can be cruel, especially when it points to the anniversary of a tragedy. For the Los Angeles Lakers, Jan. 26 will bring back memories of devastation, despair and emptiness.

For on that day of 2020 Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine who died in a helicopter accident in Calabasas, Calif., near Los Angeles.

The Lakers had played the previous night in Philadelphia, losing 108-91 to the 76ers. In that game, LeBron James passed Bryant for third on the NBA all-time scoring list.

It ended a five-game road trip for the Lakers, who would head home the next morning. On the flight home, they were informed of Bryant’s death.

One day after the first anniversary of Bryant’s death, the Lakers will return to Philadelphia on Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center.

After winning the NBA championship last season, the Lakers have a team certainly capable of defending that title. The Sixers, who sit atop the Eastern Conference with a 12-6 record after Monday’s loss to Detroit, find themselves mentioned prominently in the contender category.

» READ MORE: A year after Kobe Bryant’s death, remember that the Lower Merion kid was ours to cherish | Mike Sielski

From a basketball standpoint, Wednesday’s game has what any fan would crave. But the Lakers will enter the contest against Philadelphia with heavy hearts.

“You still just can’t believe it, especially when you are really close to him,” Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis said on a Zoom interview following Saturday’s 101-90 win at Chicago. “I think that just playing back everything on that day and then you are back a year later where we are going back to Philly and almost the same exact day, it is just crazy to come to the realization that he is gone. I think I didn’t realize how many people he impacted worldwide outside the basketball community.”

Bryant was well known to Philadelphia fans before his 20-year NBA career with the Lakers that included 18 All-Star appearances. He was an All-American at Lower Merion High and talented enough to go from high school directly to the NBA.

He retired from the Lakers following the 2015-2016 season, but Bryant continued to follow the team closely and enjoyed a great relationship with players such as Davis.

Nothing was easy last year in a season interrupted for more than four months due to COVID-19. A total of 22 teams, including the Sixers, resumed the 2019-20 season in the bubble in Kissimmee, Fla.

The season finished with the Lakers earning the franchise’s 17th NBA title after a 4-2 win over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. All along, the presence of Bryant played a huge role in the Lakers’ success.

» READ MORE: Kobe Bryant let Doc Rivers in. One year after his death, the absence still stings. | David Murphy

“While we were playing in the bubble and everything we went through that year, it made it worth it because we know we fought to the end with full purpose and it wasn’t just for ourselves it was for the Bryant family and we were able to get that accomplished,” Davis said.

After Bryant’s death, LeBron James became the person out front, speaking on behalf of the organization, talking about Bryant and the legacy left behind. It was leadership at its finest.

Understandably, it is still difficult for James to look back on that time.

“I try not to put myself back in that air space because it is still too dark for myself, for the organization and everybody else who was involved in it,” James said Saturday. “As the leader of the ball club, it was my job and my responsibility to take it all on and represent our team with the most strength that I could and prosper at that point in time. For the purple and gold, for Laker Nation, it was my job to take that responsibility and I wanted to let everyone know inside this organization that I was OK with doing that. It is all I can say about that.”

The Lakers continue to be inspired by Bryant. They even wore Bryant inspired-Black Mamba jerseys in playoff games last year.

“Us being able to remember him and wear the jerseys during the postseason, have the postseason success we had as you guys saw with those uniforms,” James said. “We have a lot of guys who wear his shoes to this day obviously. I am able to wear the 24 (Bryant’s number) on my finger every night and then to go to the Staples Center and see the 8/24 (his two numbers in the NBA) in the rafters and be able to just live his legacy on.”

To this day, the Lakers break huddles often saying “1, 2, 3, Mamba” in memory of Bryant.

“There are a lot of things that die in this world, but legends never die,” James said. “He is exactly that and it is all about representing him.”