Lakers unveil statue of Kobe and Gigi Bryant

A statue of late Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gigi Bryant, was unveiled during a private ceremony on Friday.

The statue is located outside Crypto.com Arena near the Los Angeles Kings' monument celebrating the team's 50th anniversary. It will be available for the public to visit starting Saturday morning.

The statue is the second of three planned monuments to Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash along with Gigi Bryant and seven others in January 2020.

The first statue, unveiled on Feb. 8, is a 19-foot bronze memorial to Bryant's 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors.

Friday's date (8/2/24) holds similar numerology meaning to the February ceremony (2/8/24), representing both of Bryant's uniform numbers (8 and 24) and the No. 2 that 13-year-old Gigi wore on the basketball court.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.