When the Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a Kobe Bryant statue outside of Crypto.com Arena in February, Vanessa Bryant, his widow, revealed that two more statues were on the way. The second one, which will memorialize Bryant and his daughter Gigi, is set to be unveiled Friday in a private ceremony, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported Thursday. Bryant, Gigi and seven others died in a helicopter crash in January 2020.
The second statue will be on display for public viewing from Saturday onward, per ESPN.
The first statue, which featured Bryant wearing a No. 8 jersey, was unveiled on Feb. 8, 2024. That date — representing the once-in-a-century date markers of 2-8-24 — holds a special significance to the franchise as it represents the two numbers worn by Bryant (No. 8 and No. 24) and the number worn by Gigi (No. 2).
It is not a coincidence that the Lakers are staying the course with the numerical significance, as Aug. 2 is the date for the second statue unveiling (8-2-24).
ESPN reports that the third statue will be unveiled during the 2024-25 season. According to Vanessa, it will feature Bryant wearing No. 24.
The first statue’s pose is the same one Kobe took as he left the floor following his famous 81-point game in 2006.
Bryant is the seventh Laker legend to get a statue. The first six were Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and announcer Chick Hearn. Bryant will be the first player to get multiple statues, though, just as he was the first Laker to have multiple jersey numbers.
