Isai Rocha
The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a statue of the late great Kobe Bryant outside of Crypto.com Arena Thursday, with plans to commemorate the Bryant family with two more in the future.
The statue captured the moment after Bryant scored 81 points in a January 22, 2006 game against the Toronto Raptors. As his widow, Vanessa Bryant revealed during the unveiling ceremony, Kobe chose the iconic image of himself pointing to the sky with a bandaged index finger as he gazed into the cheering crowd.
“For the record, Kobe chose the pose you’re about to see,” Vanessa Bryant said at the unveiling ceremony. “So if anyone has any issues with it, tough shit.”
In her speech, Bryant also revealed that an additional two statues would be built, with the next one being of their late daughter Gianna Bryant, who also lost her life in the helicopter crash that occurred in January 2020. The third statue will commemorate Kobe with his secondary No. 24, and once all three statues are built, they will be identified as “The House that Kobe Built.”
Additional details of the Kobe Bryant statue include the five NBA Finals Championships that Bryant won with the Lakers, a triangle platform to honor the famous “Triangle Offense” that former Laker head coach Phil Jackson ran during the championship runs, as well as all of Kobe’s daughters tattooed across Kobe’s arm. Written on the base of the statue are key statistics from Bryant’s career, including his total points scored in the regular season and playoffs, wins, NBA All-Star selections, NBA All-Defensive Team selections and championships won.
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As of this writing, the statue is covered but will be available for the viewing public outside Crypto.com Arena starting Friday at 10 a.m. According to the Lakers, the unveiling dates for the other two statues have not yet been determined.
“I’ll leave you with one of my husband’s amazing quotes,” Vanessa Bryant said. “‘Leave the game better than you found and when it comes time for you to leave, leave a legend.’ And that, he did.”
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