With the announcement that a statue for the late, great Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant will be unveiled on February 8, 2024, discussion has since turned to what the statue should look like. There are so many iconic moments from Kobe’s career to choose from, but his former Lakers teammate Robert Horry has an interesting idea as well.
Of course, Kobe wore the numbers 8 and 24 in his Lakers career with each of those eras holding a special place in the eyes of many. Many even debate which version of Kobe was the superior one and both numbers were retired and hung in the rafters of the Crypto.com Arena.
In an interview with Mark Medina of SportsKeeda.com, Horry suggested that the statue be something resembling Batman villain Two-Face, with one half representing young Kobe and the other representing the older one:
(laughs). “It’s going to be the most unique statue there is. You think about Kareem’s skyhook, Shaq’s dunk and Magic’s passes. But whoever designs this one has a lot of pressure (laughs). That thing has to be perfect. You’ll have young Kobe on one side and the older Kobe on the other side. 8/24. It’s fitting. Since he has two jerseys retired, it will almost have to be like Two-Face. You have to think about the young and hungry Kobe as well as the wise and mature Kobe.”
“There are so many iconic moments that he has. He didn’t have one patented move. He had fifty of them. It’s going to be hard. If I had the choice, it would be something with his fist balled up. The picture that people love the most is of Kobe standing on the table with his arms stretched out [after the Lakers beat the Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals]. But for me, anytime he had his fist pumped, it meant that he was fired up or the job was done.”
Horry is completely right in that Kobe has so many iconic moments and patented moves that it is hard to focus on one to be immortalized in a statue. What made Kobe so unguardable was the fact that he could score the ball at any level in any number of ways.
The idea of a ‘Two-Face’ statue is an intriguing one and would be one-of-a-kind. Whether that is doable or not remains to be seen, but as Horry said, whatever the statue turns out to be, it’s going to have to be perfect.
Lakers planning more physical tributes to honor Kobe Bryant
In addition to the statue, the Lakers also revealed that there will be more physical tributes to honor Kobe Bryant. Exactly what these other tributes could be is unclear at this time, but there is no doubt the franchise will do everything to honor the greatest player in Lakers history.