‘He Shattered Expectations’: One Year Later, Hoops World Remembers, Honors Kobe
Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 09:50PM By Barry Janoff
January 23, 2021: The NBA, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA TV and ESPN are among the venues that plan to honor the one-year observance of the passing of Kobe Bryant — Jan. 26 — with programming, testimonials and other activation.
Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven other people died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, in Calabasas, Calif., while en route to a basketball game in Bryant's Mamba Sports Academy in Newbury Park.
The NBA — which last season renamed the All-Star Game MVP Award in his honor — has just three games currently scheduled for Jan. 26, with only one on national TV (Los Angeles Clippers vs. Atlanta Hawks on NBA TV).
The Lakers are currently on an extended road trip — they play in Cleveland against the Cavaliers on Jan. 25 — and do not return to Staples Center until Feb. 4. They have been playing home games without fans in attendance, but are expected to honor Bryant — aka Black Mamba — when they return home.
His Lakers uniform Nos. 8 and 24 were retired in 2017, with oversized versions hanging from the rafters in Staples Center.
NBA TV will have programming dedicated to Bryant, who won five NBA titles with the Lakers, including games, interviews and athletes and coaches talking about his impact on them and on basketball.
ESPN said it would honor Bryant’s life beginning with one-hour, prime-time special program, SportsCenter presents Kobe: The Legend, The Legacy, Sunday, Jan. 24, (9 PM ET).
It will be hosted by Jeremy Schaap and Lisa Salters from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., where Bryant will be inducted later this year.
On Sunday leading into the SportsCenter special, ESPN will air a 90-minute edition of Detail (5 PM ET) that “ties together three special 'Honoring Kobe' episodes of the ESPN+ program, hosted by former Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, former Kobe teammate Pau Gasol and WNBA star Diana Taurasi breaking down classic games from Bryant’s NBA career."
ESPN will then re-air Bryant’s last game from April 13, 2016, when the Lakers hosted the Utah Jazz (6:30 PM), in which he scored 60 points.
ESPN said SportsCenter presents Kobe: The Legend, The Legacy would “look back at the many facets of the all-time great, including his bravado as a teenager entering the NBA directly out of high school and his historic career with the Lakers that led to five NBA championships.
The special also will examine how after he retired from the NBA — playing all 20 seasons with the Lakers — “Bryant shattered expectations by finding success in Hollywood and helping forge paths for the WNBA and women in sports, and sparking the #girldad movement.
After its initial airing, SportsCenter presents Kobe: The Legend, The Legacy will re-air multiple times on ESPN networks.
On Jan. 26, ESPN’s daily NBA program, The Jump, will have a special two-hour episode remembering Bryant (2 PM ET).
Leading up to the one-year anniversary of Bryant’s death, NBC’s Michele Tafoya will host a new episode of the Sports Uncovered podcast series, “My Favorite Kobe Story,” which looks back at the Basketball Hall of Famer’s life and career.
“I think he was starting a movement,” Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird says in the episode of Bryant’s support for the WNBA and women’s athletics.
“And that movement was what he saw in his daughter.”
Others on “Sports Uncovered: My Favorite Kobe Story” include former NBA star Shane Battier, former Lakers head coach Mike Brown, eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, Bryant’s coach Gregg Downer at Lower Merion High School, WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu and Michael Jordan’s son Marcus Jordan.
On Jan. 26, Bryant and his basketball legacy will be remembered by Sportsnet and Sportsnet ONE. Los Angeles, in Kobe Bryant: Through the Years, an hour-long documentary special that takes a look back at Bryant’s spectacular 20-season NBA career (7:30 PM. PT).
The documentary will feature interviews with Gregg Downer, former Lakers teammates Derek Fisher and Brian Shaw and former Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitchell, who was head coach when Byrant scored 81 points versus the Raptors.
There will also be archival footage featured throughout showing all aspects of his NBA career, from when he won the NBA slam dunk competition as a teenager, to him eventually becoming a five-time champion.
Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and daughter, Alyssa, were among the victims in the helicopter crash. The college said it plans to have a virtual memorial service Jan. 26, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Sarah and Payton Chester, a mother and daughter from Newport Beach; Christina Mauser, a Mamba Academy basketball coach and Huntington Beach resident; and pilot Ara Zobayan, from Huntington Beach, also died in the on Jan. 26, 2020 crash.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2020 ceremony and induction was postponed from last year due to COVID-19 and moved to 2021.
The players include Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.
He was named to the Hall of Fame posthumously in April.
Last season, Bryant was honored posthumously by 2K with two “Mamba Forever” covers as part of the NBA 2K21 platform.
The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a hearing on Feb. 9 to determine the cause of the helicopter crash, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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