A second statue of the late Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, depicted courtside with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, was unveiled today in a private ceremony held outside Crypto.com Arena.
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The statue is expected to be available for public viewing starting Saturday.
Kobe and Gianna Bryant died along with seven other people in a Calabasas, California, helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020.
The statue shows the pair sitting in courtside seats, as in the photo above that served as inspiration. Angel wings spread out behind the pair, who are encircled by purple and gold flowers. A gold plaque in front of them includes a quote from Kobe, saying, “Gianna is a beast. She’s 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.”
The plaque refers to Kobe as “Most Valuable Girl Dad.”
The Lakers unveiled the first statue of Bryant outside the arena on Feb. 8. Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, announced at that ceremony that there would eventually be three statues in his honor outside the area. No timeline was provided then for their unveiling.
Today, Vanessa Bryant also spoke about the second statue, voicing hopes that it will inspire more opportunities for female athletes.
“We merged two iconic courtside moments of Kobe and Gigi. Gianna has her gorgeous smile on her face and Kobe is kissing the top of her head while wearing the Philadelphia Eagles beanie that Gigi gifted him for Christmas. He’s also wearing a WNBA hoodie he wore courtside to the game with Gigi. Kobe was the first NBA player to wear that orange hoodie to a big game and that was to show his support for Gigi’s dreams and for women across all sports. That was a moment he shared with Gigi that will always be a powerful representation of the movement towards equality that was always so important to our family.”
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ESPN noted that Friday’s date — 8/2/24 — represents the two uniform numbers he wore with the Lakers, 8 and 24, and Gianna’s number, 2. The Feb. 8 date of the first statue unveiling — 2/8/24 — bore the same connection. That statue was later discovered to have typos, which have since been corrected.
ESPN reports the third planned statue will be unveiled sometime next season, joining
others outside the arena honoring Lakers greats Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, and announcer Chick Hearn.
A statue of Kobe and Gianna has also been placed at the site of the Calabasas crash. The statue was created by artist Dan Medina and depicts Kobe and his daughter smiling at one another, and includes a plaque with the names of the seven other victims.
Bryant played 20 years for the Lakers and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Both of Kobe Bryant’s uniform numbers were retired by the Lakers in 2017.
In other Kobe news, the home locker Bryant used from 2003-04 to his final season in 2015-16 has sold for a record-setting $2.9 million.
Sotheby’s claimed it’s the most valuable sports locker to ever sell at auction. A portion of the sale’s proceeds will “directly benefit” the Laker Youth Foundation, but did not state how much.
City News Service contributed to this report
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