It’s no secret how much Kobe and Gianna “Gigi” Bryant mean to Los Angeles — in fact their names are synonymous with our city. Now they have both been honored in a powerful way outside of the Crypto.com Arena.
A statue of the father and daughter has been unveiled, and depicts Kobe and Gigi gently embracing one another with smiles and bronze angel wings on their backs. Vanessa Bryant, wife of Kobe and mother to Gigi, expressed the statue’s meaning in a statement released by the Lakers.
“We merged two iconic courtside moments of Kobe and Gigi,” she said. “Gianna has her gorgeous smile on her face and Kobe is kissing the top of her head while wearing the Philadelphia Eagles beanie that Gigi gifted him for Christmas. He’s also wearing a WNBA hoodie he wore courtside to the game with Gigi. Kobe was the first NBA player to wear that orange hoodie to a big game and that was to show his support for Gigi’s dreams and for women across all sports. That was a moment he shared with Gigi that will always be a powerful representation of the movement towards equality that was always so important to our family.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that statue was unveiled in a private ceremony on Friday, August 2, 2024 — no word yet as to when it will be available for viewing to the public. The date of this reveal is no coincidence — as both Kobe’s iconic numbers are 8 and 24, and Gigi’s 2.
This is the second of three statues that have been revealed outside of the arena. Vanessa announced earlier this year at the first Kobe statue unveiling that the third will show Kobe in his known and beloved number 24 Lakers uniform.
It is only appropriate that these statues are outside of the house that Kobe built — available for all Kobe fans and those of Lakers nation to see.