The unveiling of the statue of Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant back in February was one of the most anticipated moments of the entire year. The first of three Kobe statues that will ultimately stand outside of Crypto.com Arena, this particular one featured the famous pose of Bryant with one finger in the air, walking off the court following his 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
There were a number of specific details that went on this statue, but unfortunately there were a couple of mistakes made, particularly on the base of the creation. This meant that certain things had to be fixed as everything about this statue simply has to be perfect.
Thankfully, all of the corrections that needed to be made have now been done as ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that the restoration of the statue was finished just before the Lakers’ regular season home finale against the Golden State Warriors:
The Kobe Bryant statue restoration was finished this morning outside of https://t.co/RbGGF9YhdO Arena pic.twitter.com/zos90M7zoJ
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 9, 2024
Here are some of the necessary corrections that were made:
The names of Jose Calderon and Von Wafer were initially misspelled on the replica box score from Bryant’s 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors.
The formatting on the list of career statistical achievements on the front of the base was also adjusted. And Bryant’s facsimile signature was recreated to simply read “Kobe,” rather than “Kobe 24,” since the statue shows Bryant wearing his white, No. 8 Lakers uniform.
The name of the statue’s sculptor, Julie Rotblatt Amrany, was also added to the base.
The mistakes might seem minor, but everything just has to be right on these statues of the greatest Lakers player, and one of the greatest NBA players ever. Errors are bound to occur as everyone is human, but the important thing is that it is now all corrected and people can enjoy the statue and pay tribute to Kobe.
With everything now proper on this initial statue, the focus can now go on what the other two will look like. There will still be another statue featuring Kobe in his 24 jersey, as well as a third featuring the Lakers legend and daughter Gianna.
Kobe Bryant 2000 Lakers Championship ring sells for record amount
Kobe Bryant is truly one of the most legendary figures in NBA history and anything and many will pay any price to have something iconic of his. This was recently proven as his 2000 NBA Championship ring, the first he won with the Lakers, was sold for a record amount.
Goldin auction house announced that the ring sold for $927,200, breaking the previous record by more than $220,000. This was the same ring that Kobe originally gifted to his father Joe Bryant, and there was a lot of controversy in the past surrounding this ring. But Joe made it clear that he and wife Pam had nothing to do with this sale.
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