On August 2, 2024, the Los Angeles Lakers commemorated the late Kobe Bryant with the unveiling of the second of three planned statues at the Crypto.com Arena. This latest statue features Kobe Bryant alongside his daughter, Gianna. Both tragically lost their lives in a helicopter crash in Southern California on January 26, 2020. Kobe was 41, and Gianna was just 13.
The statue portrays the pair seated together, with Kobe’s arm around Gianna, and angelic wings extending behind them. At the base of the statue, a quote from Kobe reads, “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 choice of date, 8/2/24, reflects the numbers Kobe wore during his illustrious Lakers career—8 and 24—while Gianna’s number, 2, is also highlighted.
The unveiling of this statue follows the earlier introduction of a separate Kobe Bryant statue at the same location, with the Lakers yet to announce the date for the final statue’s unveiling.
In addition to the statue unveiling, the locker used by Bryant during his final 13 seasons with the Lakers was sold at auction for $2.88 million. According to ESPN, citing auction house Sotheby’s, this amount set a new record for the sale of a sports locker, surpassing the estimated value of $1 million to $1.5 million reported by Sportico.
