Ellington admitted he was surprised by the depth of counseling and support Bryant offered him after his father was shot and killed more than five years ago. “Obviously there was a ton of people reaching out initially, but I was surprised that he was one of the guys that was consistently hitting me up and checking on me and giving me advice and having conversations about ways to cope with such a tragedy,” Ellington said. “One thing he always talked to me about was using the game of basketball as a safe haven, and using that to get away from all the outside noise and all the outside trauma that I had going in. That really, really resonated with me and stuck with me. I was in a dark place when that happened to me and my family. He and his conversations are actually what brought me back to the court at that time.”