Lakers make notable changes to Kobe Bryant statue outside Crypto.com Arena
Apr 13, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) reacts against the Utah Jazz in the first quarter at Staples Center. Bryant concludes his 20-year NBA career tonight. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers are righting some wrongs with their recently-unveiled statue of the late Kobe Bryant.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reports Tuesday that the Lakers completed several corrections earlier that morning to the statue of Bryant outside Crypto.com Arena. The restoration process involved correcting several misspellings on the marble base of the statue. Additionally, formatting on the base’s list of Bryant’s career achievements was adjusted, and a facsimile signature of Bryant was changed from “Kobe 24” to just “Kobe” (as Bryant is depicted in the statue wearing the jersey No. 8).
McMenamin shared several photos of the restoration process, which was completed just in time for a crucial home game against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday evening.
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
The Lakers unveiled the statue, depicting Bryant during his legendary 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, on Feb. 8, 2024 (a nod to Bryant’s two jersey numbers of 8 and 24). But the statue also featured several bad spelling errors, images of which quickly went viral in the ensuing weeks.
Fans were very disappointed about the errors, especially with how long the statue took to get done (nearly eight years after Bryant’s last NBA game and a full four years after Bryant’s death in a Jan. 2020 helicopter crash). But now, about a month after the misspellings first went viral, the statue has officially been fixed.
