According to DailyMail.com, the promised Kobe Bryant statue outside LA’s Crypto.com Arena will include his daughter Gigi and will be revealed by the Lakers on August 8, 2024, in a tribute to his jersey numbers, 8 and 24.
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gigi, six friends, and a pilot were killed in a helicopter cгаsҺ in January 2020, according to Lakers owner Jeanie Buss.
The insider informs DailyMail.com that Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, is involved in the planning, but she cautions that no artist has been chosen for the project.
Team representatives did not react quickly to Mail Sport’s request for confirmation.
Lakers supporters have been impatient for a memorial to Bryant, while many have believed that the organization will not reveаl the statue until 2024.
‘Why is there still no Kobe statue outside Staples Center?’ On August 5, prominent Lakers-centric Twitter user @LakeShowYo inquired.
Several others responded in the same way to the question: ‘They’re waiting till 2024.’
There was already a Kobe/Gigi statue at the cгаsҺ site in Calabasas, California, but there were no intentions to maintain it there permanently.
The 150-pound bronze sculpture was sculpted by Dan Medina of Southern California and showed Bryant in his Lakers uniform with his arm around Gigi, who was a blossoming basketball player at the time of the cгаsҺ.
The message ‘heroes come and go, but legends live on,’ along with the names of the other cгаsҺ victims – Christina Mauser, Payton and Sarah Chester, John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli, and pilot Ara Zobayan — can be found on the base.
Fans photographed the statue and left flowers and other mementos at the cгаsҺ scene. The statue is a scaled-down replica of a larger sculpture he is working on, which he plans to locate in downtown Los Angeles.
Medina also expressed hope that the smaller version will wind up near the cгаsҺ site.
‘I believe we handled it correctly. I did not viоlate any laws. In 2022, he told The Associated Press, “There was no trаsh left behind.” ‘I’m hoping that by demonstrating that what we accomplished spontaneously and correctly can lead to something bigger.’