LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of Kobe Bryant outside their downtown arena on Feb. 8.
The 17-time NBA winner Lakers announced the system Thursday to honor Bryant, the fourth-main scorer in NBA heritage and a beloved mainstay of the franchise for 20 seasons. Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, died in a helicopter crash in January 2020.
Bryant participated in the initial organizing of his statue immediately after his retirement in 2016, according to the Lakers. He is the sixth previous Lakers participant and seventh staff worker to be honored with a statue in the so-termed “Star Plaza” outside the arena, which has been the Lakers’ house given that 1999.
The 2/8/24 day of the unveiling is conspicuous: Kobe wore No. 8 and No. 24 all through each individual 50 % of his Lakers job, whilst Gianna wore No. 2 though enjoying youth basketball. The Bryants had been flying together to a basketball competitors with 7 many others when their helicopter crashed in fog in Calabasas, California.
Bryant’s statue will sign up for people of Lakers greats Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West and broadcaster Chick Hearn. Star Plaza also includes statues of the Los Angeles Kings’ Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Dustin Brown and announcer Bob Miller, along with winner boxer Oscar De La Hoya.
The Lakers say they are organizing “a sequence of bodily tributes” to honor Bryant beyond the statue, which is created by sculptor Julie Rotblatt Amrany.
“Kobe Bryant was just one of the most amazing athletes of all time and one particular of the most iconic individuals in the background of Los Angeles,” Lakers proprietor Jeanie Buss explained in a assertion. “There is no superior spot for Kobe to be honored with a statue than right here at the middle of our city, wherever anyone can celebrate him and be encouraged by his remarkable achievements.”
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