Barack Obama offered his heartfelt condolences to NBA players on the loss of Kobe Bryant on Saturday.  “That loss is, I know, something many of us are still grappling with, particularly because Kobe was with his daughters and those families and those children,” he said in a video posted by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Speaking to the NBA’s all-star brunch, the former president said the death of the basketball star’s daughter Gianna hit close to home as he thought about his own children. “Those of us who have had the joy and privilege of being parents, taking the kids to ballgames, rooting for our children, and then seeing our dreams and hopes passed on to them—nothing’s more heartbreaking. I want to offer the NBA family Michelle and my deepest condolences,” he added. Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash Jan. 26 along with seven other people in Calabasas, California.