“Kobe lived to make other people’s lives better, all the way up to his final text,” Pelinka said. He revealed that Bryant had texted him asking for help in getting an internship with a baseball agent for teenager Alexis Altobelli, who lost her parents and younger sister in the crash. Pelinka referred to the day of the crash as “when the axis of the world seemed to shift forever, for all of us.” Pelinka was also Gigi Bryant’s godfather, and the families were close. “If I represented the present of the women’s game, Gigi represented the future, and Kobe knew it,” said Ionescu, the Oregon star who was mentored by Bryant. Kobe Bryant was a passionate advocate for women’s basketball, and Gigi Bryant was a promising young player who aspired to play at UConn. Vanessa Bryant was followed on the podium by basketball stars Diana Taurasi and Sabrina Ionescu and University of Connecticut women’s coach Geno Auriemma. “He had to bring them home to have them together. “God knew they couldn’t be on this Earth without each other,” said Vanessa Bryant, who had been with Kobe since 1999. She emphasized Kobe Bryant’s paternal devotion, which had only grown after his retirement from the Lakers. Celebrities such as Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez also attended.Īfter Jimmy Kimmel welcomed the crowd, Vanessa Bryant provided a poignant window into the family’s life with Gianna and her three sisters - Natalia, Bianka and Capri.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver joined Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Phil Jackson, Dwyane Wade and dozens of current NBA players. The mourners included Lakers legends Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Pau Gasol. The event concluded with a screening of “Dear Basketball,” Bryant’s Academy Award-winning short film about reluctantly saying goodbye to his passion upon his retirement from the Lakers in 2016.įans, many wearing Bryant’s jersey or team colors, filled the seats at the arena where Bryant played for the final 17 seasons of a two-decade NBA career spent entirely with Los Angeles’ most popular sports franchise. The ceremony included musical numbers by Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera.
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