Vanessa Bryant Returns To The Los Angeles Lakers’ Arena For The First Time Since Kobe’s Memorial
etcanada.comIt’s been a little over three years since Vanessa Bryant walked out on the court at the Los Angeles Lakers’ arena on Feb. 24, 2020, for the memorial service of her husband, Kobe Bryant, and their daughter, Gianna.
On March 7, Vanessa made her return to the venue — then called the Staples Center and now Crypto.com Arena — to honour her late husband’s close friend and teammate, Pau Gasol, as the team retired his No.
16 jersey. During the ceremony, the Lakers owners and players talked about Gasol’s legacy on the team, which includes two NBA championships and multiple All-Star Game appearances, and lifted his number to the rafters. READ MORE: Vanessa Bryant Settles Lawsuit Over Helicopter Crash Photos for $28.85 Million In a clip shared by the Lakers’ Twitter account, Vanessa introduced Gasol for the ceremony, saying that the athlete was “special to Kobe as a teammate, as a man, and as a friend.” “Pablo, Kobe predicted you and he would be together in the rafters,” she added, before a never-before-seen video of Kobe played.
In the video, the late NBA star says, “There’s no debate. Pau, when he retires, he will have his numbers in the rafters next to mine.
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