Sports world marks fifth anniversary of deaths of Kobe, Gianna Bryant

Field Level Media|published: Sun 26th January, 13:32 2025

Jan 26, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Fans gather at a mural of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna painted on the wall of Hardcore Fitness Bootcamp gym in downtown Los Angeles. Bryant and his daughter and seven other persons died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif. on Jan. 26, 2020. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers' social media offering on Sunday morning was both delightfully sweet and devastatingly sad.

The sweet part of the post on X was a photo of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant with his arm around Gianna, one of his four daughters and a budding basketball player, as they took in a game together. Their broad smiles said all anyone needed to know about their bond with each other and with the game.

Then reality strikes with the caption: "Always in our hearts."

Always in our hearts ?? pic.twitter.com/gjkRboWvtH
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 26, 2025

Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of the death of the Bryants and seven others, killed in a helicopter crash in the hillsides of Calabasas, Calif., as the group made its way to a tournament at Bryant's Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks.

Kobe was 41; Gianna, called Gigi, was 13.

The sports world remembered them on Sunday.

"Forever missed....Never Forgotten," former Lakers teammate Caron Butler posted to Instagram on Sunday along with a photo of the Bryants.

"Thinking of you today and EVERYDAY #Gigi #kobe," another former teammate, Byron Scott, wrote.

After winning his second consecutive Australian Open, Italian Jannik Sinner changed into a pair of official Kobe Bryant shoes for the trophy ceremony.

Kobe Bryant is remembered every day with a statue outside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where a statue of Kobe and Gianna also is displayed.

And tributes throughout the city and the world have gone up in honor of the Bryants through the Kobe & Gianna Bryant mural project, which has overseen the installation of Bryant-themed murals on buildings, basketball courts and other facilities.

According to Kobemural.com, there are 463 murals in the United States -- 343 of them in Southern California -- plus 183 more in 45-plus countries.

Also killed that day were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, wife Keri and their daughter, Alyssa; coach Christina Mauser; Sarah Chester and daughter Payton; and the pilot, Ara Zobayan.

--Field Level Media

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