Vanessa Bryant shares photo of Kobe Bryant tribute jerseys as Lakers plan to wear his Black Mamba design in playoffs
Vanessa Bryant shared a snap of Kobe Bryant tribute jerseys Monday on social media as the Los Angeles Lakers reportedly plan to wear his Black Mamba jersey if they advance past the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The image Vanessa, 38, shared with her roughly 13.7 million followers showed three grey and yellow Lakers jerseys with Kobe’s number ‘8’ and another with his number ’24’.
The ’24’ jersey included a white heart patch on the right shoulder with the number ‘2’ inside.
Kobe jerseys: Vanessa Bryant took to Instagram on Monday to share a photo of several grey and yellow Kobe Bryant jerseys
Kobe, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who wore number ‘2’ while playing youth basketball, died January 26 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California along with six family friends and the pilot.
The Hall of Fame player wore the ‘8’ jersey when he joined the Lakers in 1996 and went on to win three straight NBA championships along with Shaquille O’Neal, 48.
Kobe switched to ’24’ before the 2006-2007 season and later won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010.
The Lakers if they beat the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round plan to wear the Black Mamba jersey that Kobe co-designed, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
Two jerseys: Kobe, shown in February 2012 in Phoenix, switched to ’24’ before the 2006-2007 season and later won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010
First number: The Philadelphia native, shown in October 1997 in Inglewood, California, took the number ‘8’ when he joined the Lakers in 1996
The Black Mamba jersey has black snakeskin print and 16 yellow stars for each of the 16 NBA championships won by the franchise and was previously worn in 2018.
Kobe gave himself the Black Mamba nickname in 2003 over his admiration for the snake’s ability to ‘strike with 99 percent accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession’.
The Lakers with stars LeBron James, 35, and Anthony Davis, 27, open their playoffs series Tuesday from the NBA ‘bubble’ in Orlando, Florida after finishing in first place in the Western Conference.
Family fun: Vanessa Bryant is shown with daughters Natalia and Gianna and Kobe in June 2010 at Disneyland in Anaheim, California as the celebrated the Lakers championship with Goofy
First round: LeBron James, shown earlier this month in Florida, and the Lakers will open their first round playoffs series on Tuesday against the Portland Trail Blazers
Kobe was born on August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia and Nike will launch ‘Mamba Week’ on Sunday on what would have been his 42nd birthday to honor his memory.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors also recently voted to declare August 24 as Kobe Bryant Day countywide in a nod to his birthday and the numbers ‘8’ and ’24’ that he wore with the Lakers over his 20-year career with the team.
The Lakers in December 2017 retired both of Kobe’s numbers and he is the only NBA player to have two numbers retired with the same team.
Kobe was posthumously elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame in April in his first year of eligibility and will be enshrined along with the Class of 2020 in May 2021 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
The induction ceremony for the group, which also includes Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, was initially scheduled for August 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts, but was postponed until next year due to the cornavirus pandemic.
Retired numbers: Magic Johnson, Jeanie Buss, Kobe, Vanessa and their daughters Gianna, Natalia, and Bianka and Rob Pelinka pose for a picture during Kobe’s jersey retirement ceremony at Staples Center on December 18, 2017 in Los Angeles