Kobe Bryant's Daughter Gianna Honored By Her Dream School With Her Own Jersey And Spot On The Bench

Jan 29, 2020 by apost team

Over the weekend, the 18-time All-Star and five-time N.B.A. champion, Kobe Bryant, passed away in a devastating helicopter crash. Tragically, the basketball legend’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, was also among the nine people on board who all lost their lives. The group was on their way to Gianna’s basketball game when the crash occurred.

In honor of Gianna’s life and her passion for the sport, her dream school, the University of Connecticut honored the 13-year-old on a Monday night game by reserving a seat on their bench for Gianna with flowers and her very own jersey.

Gianna was an avid basketball player and had a dream of playing in the WNBA. In the 2018 interview, Kobe gushed over his 13-year-old daughter whose basketball team he coached. Kimmel asked Kobe, "Do you think your daughter might wanna play in the WNBA?" Kobe replied, "She does for sure. This kid, man. Dude, man, I’m telling you." Kobe told Kimmel about how he had a great time bringing Gianna to a Lakers game. "We just had so much fun because it was the first time I was seeing the game through her eyes," Bryant said. 

"It wasn’t me sitting there you know as an athlete or a player or something like that, and you know it’s like about me, and I don’t like that. It was her. She was having such a good time."

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The University of Connecticut confirmed Kobe and Gianna’s influence in their program with a tweet saying, “Kobe and Gianna meant a lot to our program. Our thoughts are with the Bryant family. Mamba Mentality will live on forever, but they are deeply missed.” Mamba mentality was an idea created by Kobe that defined his career and made him one of the best NBA players of all time. Bryant told ABS CBN Sports in 2016, “To sum up what Mamba Mentality is, it means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself," Bryant said.

Besides the tribute to Gianna and Kobe, the U-Conn’s women’s basketball team, The Huskies, honored Gianna’s dream to play for them by keeping a reserved seat on their bench with a special jersey made just for her. The UConn Women’s Hoops shared a photo of the honor and wrote, “Mambacita is forever a husky.”

Kobe is survived by his wife Vanessa, whom he married in 2001, and their other three daughters. 

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