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Shaquille O'Neal's son says Kobe Bryant messaged him 'You good fam?' just hours before he died in a helicopter crash

Kobe Bryant sent a text message to Shaquille O'Neal's son, Shareef, just hours before he died.

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant sent a text message to Shaquille O'Neal's son, Shareef, just hours before he died in a tragic helicopter crash.

Bryant,his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others died in the crash near Calabasas, California on Sunday.

Shareef, whose father was a former teammate and longtime friend of the late 41-year-old, shared their brief encounter on Twitter just hours after the news of his death broke.

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"Literally this morning you reached out to me," he wrote alongside a screenshot of the text."I love you forever unc.I love you."

The screenshot showed Bryant had messaged him at 8.19 a.m. on the morning of the crash, saying: "You good fam?"

Shareef replied saying: "Yeah! Just been getting this work in trying to figure out my next move. How you been?"

He never received a reply.

The 20-year-old, a college basketball star who most recently played for the UCLA Bruins,then posted a number of other emotional tributes to Bryant and Gianna.

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"GIGI. Love you cousin," read one, while another said: "You've really been there for me all 20 years of my life ... been there for me since I was born .. love you."

He also posted a video of his father and Bryant, and a photo of Bryant's famous Los Angeles Lakers jersey, which hangs above his bed.

"Right above me every night I go to sleep," he said."I'm going to play through you."

Soon after, Shaquille O'Neal posted a tribute of his own , saying: "There's no words to express the pain Im going through with this tragedy of loosing my niece Gigi & my brother @kobebryant.

"I love you and you will be missed. My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. I'M SICK RIGHT NOW."

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O'Neal and Bryant played together at the Lakers between 1996 and 2004, a period in which they helped the team win three back-to-back NBA championships.

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