Jalen Rose broke into tears while honoring his mother on 'NBA Countdown'

It feels like we've all known Jalen Rose, the flashiest member of the Fab Five, for so long now. He was such a graceful player, and has been a thoughtful analyst of the game for more than a decade now.

Part of what makes his story resonate is that his first name — a combination of James, for his father, and Leonard, for the man who drove his mother to the hospital — had such an interesting story and became so popular.

This is the first Mother's Day Jalen had to spend without his mother Jeanne, who created the name and guided her son to a life of prominence that made it spread.

He broke into tears on ESPN's "NBA Countdown" as he discussed how much he misses her.

"We fell in love with basketball together. My father played in the league and to not know him. ... She was like, 'You're going to make it, you're going to get us out the hood, I promise you.' And I was like 'I'm going to do it ma.' And I did it. We did it."

Jimmy Walker, the No. 1 pick in the 1967 NBA draft, was Rose's biological father but the two never met; Walker died of cancer in 2007.

Rose had tweeted earlier this year about his mother's battle with cancer. She died in early February.

Here's more on how Jalen's mom came up with his name.