It was bittersweet for Vanessa Bryant, 37, her daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, Capri, 9 Mos, and millions of others after news broke about the late & great Kobe Bryant being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Vanessa and Natalia appeared on ESPN to talk about his major achievement on Saturday, April 4, where they both appeared in a very emotional state. “It’s an incredible accomplishment and honor, and we’re extremely proud of him,” Vanessa said. “Obviously we wish that he was here with us to celebrate. But it’s definitely the peak of his NBA career and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a stepping stone to be here.”
Vanessa continued by saying, “We’re incredibly proud of him and rest in solace knowing that he was probably going to be a part of the 2020 Hall of Fame class.” Vanessa later shared the video montage from the Hall of Fame, including a clip of her interview, on Intagram writing “I love and miss you so much, Papi. ❤️.” Other inductees include fellow NBA legends Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, 10-time WNBA All-Star Tamika Catchings, Baylor University coach Kim Mulkey, five-time Division II coach of the year Barbara Stevens of Bentley University, four-time NCAA coach of the year Eddie Sutton; and former Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. They were all selected on Saturday, April 4. The 8 sports icons will be officially inducted on August 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Kobe and his daughter Gianna tragically died along with seven other people when the helicopter they were on crashed in Calabasas, California on January 26, 2020. Vanessa has since kept their memory alive in many different ways. She took her family to visit a mural of the beloved father-daughter duo last month where she and her daughters huddled close and smiled in front of it. The mural is a larger-than-life painting that memorialized the touching moment that Kobe and Gigi shared at an NBA game in November 2019.
She’s also been promoting Kobe’s book called The Wizenard Series: Season One on Instagram. She shared a promo video clip that shows the cover of the book, which is written by Wesley King, on March 31, the same day as the book’s release. “SOMETIMES WINNING MEANS DEFEATING YOURSELF,” it reads across the bottom of the clip, which also includes a black and white image of a basketball hoop and a young boy with a basketball.