Tag: Gianna Bryant

The sports world remembers Kobe and Gianna Bryant one year after their tragic deaths

How the sports world is paying tribute to them one year later.

One year ago on Tuesday, the world lost Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, along with seven others.

Many personalities from the sports world are using their social media accounts to pay tribute — current and former NBA and WNBA players, NFL stars, and so many more.

We’ve collected a bunch of them here and will add to them throughout the day, and that doesn’t include what Vanessa Bryant posted on Instagram early Tuesday morning, which was a beautiful letter written to her by one of Gianna’s best friends.

Here are some of the tributes we saw from around social media:

Here’s a statement from New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu — who was is close with the Bryant family — to Yahoo Sports:

I carry Kobe and Gigi with me every day and honor their legacies through my dedication to the game. I wake up every day grateful for the platform I’ve been given and I strive to lead by example and serve as a role model for young people and especially girls to pursue sports — a platform Kobe and Gigi were passionate about. I saw the way he supported his family and his constant advocacy for women’s basketball. His encouragement and promotion of equality in sports along with his Mamba Mentality is what motivates me today.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKgrrtPJEpn/?igshid=17fok0nbzxlat

Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving showed up in a Kobe jersey on Monday night:

[jwplayer 4MgySWFk-q2aasYxh]

Vanessa Bryant shares beautiful letter from Gianna’s best friend on Instagram: ‘It still doesn’t seem real’

This is beautiful.

Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic deaths of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, and family members, friends, loved ones and friends are all mourning around the world.

Vanessa Bryant posted a beautiful letter from one of Gianna’s best friend on her Instagram account early on Tuesday and spoke about the year anniversary in the caption.

“Today I received this sweet letter from one of Gianna’s best friends, Aubrey. I love you Aubz (as my Gigi would call you),” Vanessa Bryant wrote. “Thank you so much for beautifully sharing some of your memories of my Gigi with me and allowing me to share them here on my ig. My Gigi is INCREDIBLE and I truly appreciate your thoughtful letter. She loves you so much. I miss my baby girl and Kob-Kob so much, too. I will never understand why/how this tragedy could’ve happened to such beautiful, kind and amazing human beings. It still doesn’t seem real. Kob, we did it right. Gigi, you still make mommy proud. I love you!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKf7QLmDXDo/

[jwplayer 4MgySWFk-q2aasYxh]

Revisiting Kobe Bryant’s final interview a year ago

Kobe had so much to give.

It’s been nearly a year since Kobe Bryant’s untimely passing and it still doesn’t feel real.

Bryant still had so much more to give to the world. So much love. So much art. So much creativity. That was pretty evident after his last sit-down interview with USA Today’s Mark Medina.

In the piece above, Medina and other members of USAT’s staff go over what it was like to be in that moment and speak with Bryant for, what turned out to be, the final time.

In the original piece, Bryant discussed his future goals and ambitions with Medina while discussing life after basketball. He explored his passion for storytelling, his new beginning with Granity, his production company, and how he wanted to help develop the future of basketball at the Mamba Academy.

Bryant’s passions came through as clear as day. It makes you simultaneously sad for the work he left to be done yet excited for the foundation he’d already established.

The folks who participated in the project share more details and stories like that one in the video above.

 

LeBron James honors Kobe and Gigi Bryant after Lakers first day of training camp

After the first day of Lakers camp, LeBron James continued to honor the memory of Kobe and Gigi Bryant.

Sunday was the first official day of Los Angeles Lakers training camp, as the team was able to get into full speed workouts in preparation for the season. The Lakers play their first game of the preseason on Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers and while it is a new season, LeBron James set the tone after Sunday’s first day of practice that the lessons and losses from last season will stay with them forever.

After the Lakers practice, LeBron donned a customized shirt featuring special moments between Kobe Bryant and Gigi Bryant. Later, LeBron posted the photo on his Instagram story, noting that their loss is something that will be with him and the Lakers franchise forever.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIeLoO5B0eP/

LeBron and the Lakers were able to start training camp with no reported positive tests. Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers became the first team to report positive tests and they shut down their practice facility on Sunday.

[lawrence-related id=36229,36220]

 

FOX Sports News: The Lakers will wear …

Andy Bernstein: So, Jerry, when Kobe …

Andy Bernstein: So, Jerry, when Kobe died so suddenly with his daughter and all of those people on the helicopter in January, it had to bring that back to you? Jerry West: I think you have to come with grips with things, OK? The finality is something that’s there. When I think back to that day, I’m sitting here on a Sunday morning reading the newspaper, as I always do, because I love to read. And I get a call that said somebody said there was a helicopter crash. And they suspect that it might have been Kobe on that plane with other people. The first thing you do, you start to worry. Please, this can’t happen to him. He’s got too much of a life to give. His career afterwards was going to be bigger than it was as an athlete. And I think the suddenness of it and his age, but more importantly the daughter and let’s not forget the other people, it just was gut-wrenching to me to think that they’d been taken.

I’ll never forget of some of the times …

I’ll never forget of some of the times I saw him sitting at the game with his daughter, Gianna, on the floor. And to see the joy, to see the love between those two, it was just amazing. We have some pictures here with him and my kids, and when I look at them, I say, “Oh, my God. Look at how young he was. Look how young my kids were.” Those are the constant reminders that I have.