![]() ![]() You don’t need a boy for that.’ Like that’s right. “The best thing that happens is when we go out and fans will come up to me and she’ll be standing next to me and they’ll be like, ‘Man, you got to have a boy, you and got to have a boy, someone to carry on the tradition, the legacy.’ And she’s like ‘Oh, I got this. During an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!’’ in October 2018, Bryant relayed her interest in following in her dad’s footsteps. 14, he posted a video of Gigi’s fadeaway, one that is often compared to his own, with the caption, “Gigi getting better every day.’’ ![]() She was having such a good time.’’īryant’s pride for Gigi showed via his Instagram, where he documented some of the basketball memories they shared together. “It was the first time I was seeing the game through her eyes,’’ Bryant said. ![]() A week later, they were courtside once again, this time at the Staples Center to watch another one of Gigi’s favorites: Dallas Mavericks phenom Luka Dončić. Just last month, the two sat courtside at the Barclays Center to watch one of Gigi’s favorite NBA players: Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young. In July 2019, they attended the WNBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas. In March 2019, they went to Gampel Pavilion for UConn’s senior night as well as the jersey retirement of legend Rebecca Lobo. In June 2018, Gigi got some shots up on an outdoor hoop in the Luxembourg Gardens during the family’s trip to France. Four months later, they sat behind the UConn bench at Nationwide Arena to watch the overtime thriller between the Huskies and eventual national champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In November 2017, they watched the top-ranked UConn Huskies take down UCLA. “We’ll probably win a lot more if we micromanage how we play the game and call plays and sets, but we really just kind of sit back and let them process things and figure things out because we are playing for the long game of them being the best basketball players they can be.’’įrom there, the basketball memories started to multiply for Gigi and Bryant. “They all started at the ground level, but they all loved playing so much it grew into what it is now,’’ Bryant said on the “All the Smoke’’ podcast. Chester’s mother and Altobelli’s father and mother were also killed. Two of Gigi’s teammates - Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester - were onboard the helicopter at the time of the crash. Gigi quickly made a local All-Star team, which introduced them to many of the girls that would soon form “Team Mamba.’’ Among Granity’s other projects were “Detail,’’ an ESPN+ series in which Bryant analyzed game film of current players, and multiple young adult fiction books that merged fantasy and sports.īut when Gigi decided she wanted to play, Bryant was there to coach. He launched Granity Studios, a multimedia content company that is probably best known for its short-film adaptation of Bryant’s poem, “Dear Basketball.’’ The six-minute production earned him an Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2018. He had expressed interest in exploring other interests, particularly creative storytelling. Gigi was expected to play, Bryant to coach.Ĭoaching initially wasn’t on Bryant’s retirement radar. The group was on its way to a noon game at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy, a training facility he opened in Thousand Oaks, Calif. ![]() She watches everything.’’īryant and 13-year-old Gigi died Sunday in a helicopter crash that killed all nine passengers on board. She asked me to get the league pass on her phone and everything. “Now that she’s into basketball, it’s on every night. “Before Gigi got into basketball, I hardly watched it,’’ Bryant said during a recent episode of the “All the Smoke’’ podcast. ![]()
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