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Next year, the Los Angeles Lakers will dedicate a statue of the legendary Kobe Bryant outside of their stadium.
The team revealed on Thursday that on February 8, 2024, before the Laker’s home game that night, it will dedicate a bronze statue to Bryant at Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena.
The fourth-leading scorer in NBA history and a cherished fixture of the team for 20 seasons, Bryant, will be honored in this way, the 17-time NBA champion Lakers said on Thursday.
On January 26, 2020, Bryant was heading to a youth basketball event with his daughter Gianna and seven other people when their helicopter crashed into a hill in Calabasas, west of Los Angeles.
After retiring in 2016, the Lakers claim that Bryant took part in the original planning of his statue. He is the seventh club employee and the sixth former Lakers player to get a monument in the “Star Plaza” outside the arena, the Lakers’ home since 1999.
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Legacy Lives Through Art
Bryant and his daughter Gianna are honored on the day of the unveiling.
The 2/8/24 date of the reveal is significant because Gianna wore No. 2 while playing youth basketball, while Kobe wore Nos. 8 and 24 for each half of his Lakers career.The Bryants and seven other passengers were traveling in the same chopper when it crashed in Calabasas, California, during a basketball competition.
The statue of Bryant will stand among statues of other legendary Lakers players Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, and Chick Hearn. Along with champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya, Star Plaza also features sculptures of Los Angeles Kings players Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Dustin Brown, and Bob Miller.
In addition to the statue, which was created by artist Julie Rotblatt Amrany, the Lakers said they are planning “a series of physical tributes” to honor Bryant.
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Source: CBS News
