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Statue of Kobe Bryant
Statue of Kobe Bryant
The Black Mamba Statue
	The statue in 2024
Medium	Bronze sculpture
Subject	Kobe Bryant
Location	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
	34°2′37.3″N 118°15′57.6″W / 34.043694°N 118.266000°W

The Kobe Bean Bryant Memorial Statue, is a work of public art by American artist and sculptor Julie Rotblatt-Amrany. The 19-foot bronze sculpture of the American basketball player Kobe Bryant was commissioned by Bryant's widow, Vanessa Bryant in her husband's honor, and stands on a plinth in front of the Crypto.com Arena located in downtown Los Angeles. The statue was unveiled in 2024. The sculpture is the first of the three memorials planned to stand outside the Lakers downtown arena.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

History

On February 8, 2024, The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a 19-foot statue of deceased retired NBA player Kobe Bryant outside of the Crypto.com Arena.^[6] The statue, sculpted by Julie Rotblatt-Amrany,^[7] depicts Bryant's right index finger skyward pose after his famous career-high 81-point game on January 22, 2006, against the Toronto Raptors, with his name and scorer's report from that game etched into the statue, representing one of his most iconic games during his career.^[8] The back of the statue contains a quote from Bryant, stating,

Leave the game better than you found it. And when it comes time for you to leave, leave a legend.
— Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant had spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers since being drafted in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets before being traded to the team after being selected 13th overall. Eventually, he led the Lakers to seven NBA Finals appearances, winning five championships, two NBA Finals MVPs, one NBA MVP, and won two Olympic Gold Medals for the United States men's national basketball team. Bryant also made 18x NBA All-Star appearances while also being the NBA's scoring champion two times, winning the Slam-Dunk Contest once, making the NBA's All-Defensive First Team nine times, and making the All-NBA First Team eleven times.^[9]

The statue honoring Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant received some mixed reactions from fans shortly after the statue's unveiling.^[10]

Reception and criticism

Around one month after the statue's unveiling, fans outside of Crypto.com Arena began to spot multiple spelling errors on the sculpture.^[11] The errors included misspelling of Toronto Raptors guard José Calderón as "Jose Calderson", misspelling of Los Angeles Lakers guard Von Wafer as "Vom Wafer", and the word "decision" misspelled as "decicion" in the sentence, "Coach's decision".^[12] Bryant's facsimile signature also read, "Kobe 24" despite him wearing his white No. 8 Lakers uniform on the statue.

Some fans were disappointed by the statue, saying that the statue's face looked more like former NBA and NBA G League player Andre Ingram,^[10] and that the statue had a lack of detail. Others said that the statue was small, which they said was a "disrespect to Kobe."^[13] Fans also pointed out minor formatting errors on the base of the statue which displays many of Bryant's accomplishments throughout his 20-season-long career.

The Los Angeles Lakers on March 11, 2024, announced their plans to correct and fix spelling errors and formatting errors on the statue, which were completed on April 9, 2024.^[14]^[15]

Future Plans

Future installations will include one additional statues. One will depict Bryant in his No. 24 jersey, representing the latter part of his illustrious career with the Los Angeles Lakers. On August 2, 2024, the Los Angeles Lakers unveiled the Statue of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, the second of the three planned statues, serving as a tribute to the two who both passed away in the helicopter crash in January 2020.^[16]^[17]