The Los Angeles Lakers have left two seats for Kobe and his daughter Gigi in Friday’s game at the Staples Centre to pay tribute to their Legend and his daughter.
The seats which were where Kobe and her daughter Gigi sat the weekend before their tragic death on Sunday in a helicopter crash, had both their Jerseys placed on the seats with some flowers.
The move was to honour their legend, and one of the most successful Lakers in the history of the NBA.
The move also comes just a few hours after over 20,000 free Kobe Bryant tribute shirts were left on each seat at the Staples Centre to be given away to fans to honour Kobe.
The free Kobe Bryant tribute shirts as we reported earlier, saw Kobe Bryant jersey numbers #8 and #24 added to the court design as well as his initials on the baseline. The players will wear a jersey patch with the same design.
According to the report by TMZ, everyone who attends the Lakers game Friday night will get a free Kobe Bryant tribute shirts, courtesy of the team, 20,000 in total.
The hard-working people at Staples Center have draped a Kobe shirt on every single seat half of the arena will get Kobe #8 shirts. The other half will get #24 shirts.
It’s just one part of the Kobe Bryant tributes at Staples on Friday the first game for the Lakers since Kobe passed away on Sunday.
There will be a moment of silence, visual tributes to Kobe around the arena and we’re told some players are considering addressing the crowd but nothing is set in stone yet.
Tickets for Friday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers are already rising in value — with the cheapest tickets just to get in the building hovering around $800 on the secondary ticket market.
A massive turnout both inside and outside Staples Center will be expected where Kobe played for nearly all of his 20 years with the Lakers (the Lakers previously played at The Forum).