Perhaps no one is more deserving than having multiple statues dedicated to them than Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
The first statue was erected in front of Crypto.com Arena depicting Bryant in his No. 8 jersey with his finger pointing to the sky, an homage to his 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors. Aside from the second statue, which featured him with his daughter Gianna, a third statue is scheduled to be unveiled at some point during the upcoming 2024-25 season.
Since Bryant retired, numerous players have paid their tributes to him though current Lakers players like D’Angelo Russell were fortunate enough to play alongside him. Russell was a rookie in Bryant’s final year and got to learn under one of the best players to ever pick up a basketball.
Russell was also lucky enough to share the floor with Bryant in the latter’s final NBA game and he recounted the evening when the legend scored 60 points, via the Run Your Race podcast:
“Bro, when you got the ball and they boo you, you know what that means. Get that ball to that man. He was just trying to score. I remember Julius was like, ‘Bro, I’m just trying to get on the board. I’m just trying to score. I ain’t trying to have zero.’ So everybody was just trying to get two, like just get two. He’s gonna get all the other ones.
“So that’s what it was. It was really us running around trying to get him the ball because they were trapping him. He was shooting tough twos like one-footed inside the 3-point line twos, like pull-ups. You just see his face he looked young. He just looked like he had it. I don’t know what was getting him through that shit. He didn’t come out of the game. He was prepared, though. You could see it, mentally, he was prepared. Everybody in the world was at the game. Denzel, Shaq, like everybody.”
It was a spectacle at the arena that night as Bryant did everything in his power to go out with a bang. Every time he touched the ball it went up, much to the delight of everyone who was there to see it live.
Bryant’s final game is the stuff of legend and will go down as arguably the best farewell in NBA history. Perhaps that third statue will find a way to depict that game, which no one will surely forget anytime soon.
Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell details relationship with Kobe Bryant
D’Angelo Russell has previously admitted that a lot of Kobe Bryant’s advice to him went over his head, but he detailed that the two had a great relationship during their one year playing together.
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