LOST TALENT
Kobe Bryant’s tragic daughter Gianna, 13, shows off her incredible basketball skills in heartbreaking video
KOBE Bryant’ daughter Gianna was filmed showing off her own incredible basketball skills just two weeks before they were killed in a helicopter crash.
The NBA legend said he regarded the 13-year-old, who was known as Gigi, as his legacy and the pair were recently seen at games together.
8
8
8
Like her father, Gigi was a prodigiously talented basketball player and the pair were on their way to Bryant's Mamba Academy for practice yesterday morning when the chopper crashed in thick fog.
The seven others on board were also killed in the tragedy in Calabasas, including Christina Mauser, Bryant's assistant coach in youth basketball, Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, who was reportedly a teammate of Gianna.
The pilot - named locally as Ara Zobayan, Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Kerry, and their daughter Alyssa were also among the dead.
Bryant, 41, shared an extremely close relationship with his daughter, who had aspirations of being a star one day.
8
8
In the video shared on Instagram, she can be seen in high heels and a dress dribbling the basketball behind her back and through her legs without missing a single step.
In a 2018 " in 2018, Bryant said he saw Gianna as the heir to his legacy.
Kobe was coach of his daughter's team "The Mambas" and they were pictured a day before the crash at a youth basketball session.
The NBA legend founded the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, and the name is a reference to his nickname The Black Mamba.
Bryant was scarcely seen at NBA games after his 2016 retirement.
But GiGi's passion for the sport changed that and the pair would watch games on NBA League Pass virtually every night.
Speaking to the "All The Smoke" podcast, Bryant discussed GiGi's love for the game.
He told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson: "You know what's funny, So before Gigi got into basketball I hardly watched it, but now that's she's into basketball, we watch every night."
"And I mean every game," he then emphasised, before adding that "she watches everything," on NBA League Pass.
Then asked by the hosts who her favourite players were, Kobe replied: "She likes watching Trae Young a lot, she watched Luka Doncic a lot, she watches James Harden, she watches Russell Westbrook, I mean she watches Bron [LeBron James]."
And last month, Bryant took GiGi to see the Lakers in person at the Staples Center.
The pair watched on as the Lakers put on a show, beating the Dallas Mavericks 108-95.
And after the game GiGi was introduced to the players, including the Mavericks' 20-year-old superstar Doncic.
Bryant opened up to Barnes and Jackson about what it was like to watch the game live with his daughter.
He said: "We just had so much fun because it was the first time I was seeing the game through her eyes.
MOST READ IN SPORT
"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."
GiGi also represented her high school team, the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.
And she dreamed of playing college basketball for the UConn Huskies women's team.
8
8
8
Kobe Bryant dead at 41: NBA legend killed along with at least four others in horror helicopter crash
Topics