LeBron, Curry mourn loss of rapper Hussle

NBA players are mourning the death of Grammy-nominated West Coast rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was killed outside his Los Angeles clothing store on Sunday, according to Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti.

Police confirmed that three men were shot Sunday, and one of them was killed outside Marathon Clothing, the store owned by Hussle.

Hussle, a noted NBA fan, was a regular at Staples Center, often seen sitting courtside at Lakers and Clippers games. He was also seen attending Texas Tech's NCAA tournament victory over Gonzaga on Saturday in Anaheim.

LeBron James was among several athletes -- including Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Isaiah Thomas and Tobias Harris -- to express their shock and sorrow at the news on social media.

Stephen Curry, who interviewed Hussle, 33, last year as part of his "5 Minutes from Home" series on YouTube, said he had developed a friendship with the rapper and expressed his sympathies to Hussle's family after the Golden State Warriors' home victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.

"I got to know him last year and had a great conversation about who he was as a person, what he stood for, what his message was, how he tried to inspire people, considering where he grew up. And how he turned that into something extremely powerful and represented an entire city," Curry said. "It's tough, senseless crimes that don't need to happen. Especially with a guy that was doing what he was doing, definitely tough. It's one of those [moments] before the game, you try to just pay your respects the best you can. Send the love down there to his family."

The Warriors played Hussle's music before the game, and a number of players danced to it.

The LA Clippers honored Hussle with a video tribute before their game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, and guardLou Williamswore a pair of shoes with a message honoring Hussle for a portion of the game.

Afterward, Williams said he hadn't been able to let the tragedy sink in yet.

"Honestly, I'm not even prepared to say anything publicly yet," Williams said. "It's just rough. I haven't even been able to [process] it all."

Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell asked the team to make a jersey with his No. 5 on it and Hussle's name on the back as a tribute to the rapper.

"I wish I was able to know him a little bit more personally than everybody else in the world," Harrell said. "... When you have a person like that, who is giving to the community and worked his tail off in his own way to be able to establish that type of love and the support he had from the community, for his life to be taken where he was born and raised, it's a sad day. ... I've seen him around L.A., the things he did for the city of Los Angeles, the uplifting that he brings to the community with all the different drives that he did. It's tough that he doesn't get to go home to his family tonight."

The Lakers also paid theirrespects to the L.A. native on social media on Sunday.

In a tweet, the Los Angeles Police Department said it has no information about a suspect in the shooting.

ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk and The Associated Press contributed to this report.