When the first statue of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant was unveiled outside Crypto.com Arena, it was announced that there would be two more statues coming in the future. The second of those has now been unveiled featuring Kobe and his daughter Gianna Bryant forever enshrined outside of the house that he built.
Unlike the initial statue, which was unveiled in front of everyone in a massive ceremony to commemorate the life of Kobe, this statue was unveiled on Friday in a private tented ceremony. The date of Friday, Aug. 2, 2024 was chosen as it has the same meaningful numbers as the date of the first statue ceremony, just in reverse. The numbers 8 and 24 being what Kobe wore in his Lakers career while the number 2 was Gigi’s jersey of choice. The statue is located near the Los Angeles Kings’ 50th anniversary monument and will be available for public viewing on Saturday.
The first statue is the famous pose of Kobe pointing one finger in the air as he walked off the court following his historic 81-point performance in 2006. It was a pose that Kobe himself picked out, according to his wife Vanessa, and also includes inscriptions of his career accolades and replicas of the five NBA Championships he won with the Lakers.
Here is what the second statue looks like after it was unveiled on Friday in the private ceremony:
Here is the Gianna and Kobe Bryant statue. It will be available to view outside the arena starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/V6wEfAhflR
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) August 2, 2024
This second featuring Kobe and Gianna is just as special considering the closeness of their relationship and how much she loved basketball and learning the game from her father. The two were regularly seen at basketball games together and Kobe was the coach of her team at the Mamba Academy.
The statue did a great job depicting that as they seem to be sitting together at a game with Kobe kissing the forehead of his daughter.
In writing on the plaque is a quote from Kobe that reads: “Gianna is a beast. She is better than I was at her age. She’s got it. Girls are amazing. I would have five more girls if I could. I’m a girl dad.”
There is still a third Kobe statue that will be unveiled at some point next season and will feature him in his No. 24 jersey, but the specifics and exact date of that remain unknown.
Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell details relationship with Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant’s final season with the Lakers was the first NBA season for a young D’Angelo Russell. At the time, Russell was just an 18-year old kid and he admits he wasn’t really ready to receive the advice that Kobe was trying to give him.
Russell recently said Kobe tried to be like a big brother to him, but the former was just naive to the information and his overall legacy. The Lakers guard admitted that as the years went on, things Kobe said would come back to him and he is truly appreciative of the time he was able to spend with the icon.
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