Five years ago today, NBA icon Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were killed when a helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas, California. He was 41 years ago.
Bryant’s legacy and influence are still felt across the sports and entertainment world to this day, made clear by a wave of tributes that poured in online to commemorate and celebrate Bryant’s achievements both on and off the court.
Dearica Hamby still smiles at the memory of Bryant sitting courtside at WNBA games.
She had met him years ago when he came to see her old team, the Las Vegas Aces, play all the time.
“I think one of the first things he told me was that I could play defense,” Hamby recalled. “And I was kind of like ‘Wha-at?’ … That’s something I’ll cherish with me forever.”
That epitomized the late NBA great’s relationship with the women’s game. After his 20-year playing career ended, Bryant turned his focus to the next generation, mentoring some of women’s basketball’s biggest stars, from WNBA champion and Olympic gold medalist Diana Taurasi to former Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu.
He worked out with them, analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of their game and pushed for them to reach the same heights in popularity that he and his NBA peers did.
For Hamby, now with the Los Angeles Sparks, Bryant saw an aspect of her game she didn’t even know she had.
“If Kobe tells you [that] you can play defense, you can play defense,” she quipped.
Several women’s basketball players reflected on what Bryant meant to their game and how he championed it. Many of them thought he would be pleased with the overall progress of women’s sports, which have skyrocketed in popularity and reach in recent years.
That growth has been most prominent in the women’s basketball arenas that Bryant and Gianna loved so much.
The WNBA last season had its most-watched regular season in 24 years and its best attendance in 22 seasons. Some of the league’s most popular players are currently competing in a new 3-on-3 league in South Florida called Unrivaled, founded by Olympic gold medalists Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.
“We carry this on for him,” said Satou Sabally, a forward with the WNBA’s Dallas Wings who plays for the Phantom squad in Unrivaled. “He would be so proud of this league. He would be proud of ‘Phe and Stewie. I know that he’s looking down, and hopefully he’s smiling and is proud of us.”
Sabally said she still gets emotional when she thinks of that day on Jan. 26, 2020. It reminds her of her playing days at Oregon, when she, Ionescu and their Ducks teammates connected over Bryant.
“I think about … how we all bonded together over Kobe and how we bonded together for the rest of our lives because he was so impactful,” Sabally added. “He was really a person that saw us women as the talents who we are. He came to the games, he was so outspoken and he really was really supportive.”
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“I still remember exactly where I was whenever we heard the news,” said Kate Martin of the Golden State Valkyries, playing for Laces BC at Unrivaled, “and no one really knew if it was fake or real. I think that’s just one of those things where you’re just always going to remember exactly where you were when you heard that.”
Martin never met Bryant but said she cherishes his mentality — he had a relentless competitiveness — and the way he elevated women’s sports.
Bryant became heavily involved with his daughters’ hoops journeys and coached Gianna’s youth team. He was often at women’s basketball games, especially college ones, with Gianna, who was fascinated with the UConn Huskies. Gianna was in line to further Bryant’s legacy on the court. The plan was for her to attend Connecticut, and surely the WNBA was next.
There’s an image that still circulates in the sports world today: Kobe and Gianna sitting courtside at a 2019 game featuring his Los Angeles Lakers. He wore a bright orange pullover with a white WNBA logo on the front. Gianna sat beaming at his side.
“I think a lot of people started to follow behind Kobe because he recognized our gift and our talent and how special it really is,” said former Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon, the current coach of Unrivaled’s Vinyl BC. “And his daughter was right there as well.”
That’s who Bryant had become — a face of women’s sports advocacy.
“He’s greatly missed,” Martin said. “But now his legacy will live on forever.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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