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Vanessa Bryant led the unveiling of her late husband Kobe Bryant’s statue in Los Angeles on Thursday. The event was well-attended and garnered reactions from celebrities on social media, including popular media personality Khloe Kardashian.
The bronze statute honoring the late NBA great, who died in 2020 at the age of 41, was unveiled in a ceremony before the LA Lakers' game with defending champions Denver Nuggets on Thursday.
To celebrate the momentous day for their family, Vanessa Bryant took to Instagram and shared a photo of herself and her three children in front of Kobe Bryant’s statute. She captioned it with one of the ‘Black Mamba''s special quotes:
“LEAVE THE GAME BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT. AND WHEN IT COMES TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE, LEAVE A LEGEND.” ~ @kobebryant”
The post garnered reactions from celebrities, who hailed the special day for the Bryants, including from Kardashian, who reacted with a bunch of purple hearts as a tribute to the Laker great.
Other celebrities who reacted to Vanessa Bryant’s Instagram post include Caron Butler, Jamal Crawford and Kris Jenner.
Kobe Bryant is the latest Laker great to have his statute put up at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, home of the Lakers. The late legend joins Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West and Chick Hearn.
Bryant died alongside his daughter Gianna, 13, and nine others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, in Jan. 2020.
Vanessa Bryant says statue unveiling also in honor of people who supported Kobe Bryant in his career
While the unveiling of the late Kobe Bryant's statue was in honor of what he did for the LA Lakers and basketball in general, Vanessa Bryant also said that it was a tribute to the people who was with her husband throughout his legendary NBA career.
She highlighted that during her speech at the unveiling, where she became emotional after being warmly welcomed by the crowd. Vanessa Bryant said about the 'especially sad' day:
"It goes without saying that today is an especially sad day for us since Kobe and Gigi aren't here for what is supposed to be an incredibly joyous moment and Kobe’s legacy.
"Kobe has so many people that have supported him all over the world from the very beginning. And this moment isn't just for Kobe, but it's for all of you that have been rooting for him all of these years."
Vanessa added that there will be three statues in front of the Crypto.com Arena home of the LA Lakers. One will have Kobe wearing the No. 8, another with his daughter Gianna, and another wearing the No. 24.
The Lakers, though, lost to the Denver Nuggets 114-106, despite big outings from Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
Guess the Bulls players in this quiz and it's not going to be easy!
