Vanessa Bryant said she is proud and pleased with Kobe Bryant’s honour into the Pro Basketball Hall Of Fame, calling it the pinnacle of his career.
Vanessa Bryant sat with daughter Natalia as she fought back tears, saying how proud she was of Kobe’s posthumous accomplishment.
Kobe will be inducted as part of the class of 2020, and Vanessa says it’s the pinnacle of her late husband’s storied NBA career, that spanned 20 years with the Lakers.
Vanessa says, “It’s an incredible accomplishment and honour, and we’re extremely proud of him. Obviously, we wish he was here with us to celebrate, but it’s definitely the peak of his NBA career and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a stepping stone to be here.”
The Lakers praised Kobe, saying, “All of us can trust that this basketball Hall of Fame honour is one Kobe would, and will, deeply appreciate.”
Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, and fellow NBA greats Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett headlined a nine-person group announced Saturday as this year’s class of enshrinees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bryant died about three weeks before the Hall of Fame said as if there was going to be any doubt — that he was a finalist. Duncan and Garnett were also widely perceived to be locks to be part of this class; they were both 15-time NBA All-Stars, and Bryant was an 18-time selection.
They all got into the Hall in their first year as finalists, as did WNBA great Tamika Catchings. Others had to wait a bit longer for the good news: Two-time NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich finally got his call, as did longtime Baylor women’s coach Kim Mulkey, 1,000-game winner Barbara Stevens of Bentley and three-time Final Four coach Eddie Sutton.
They were the eight finalists who were announced in February, and the panel of 24 voters who were tasked to decide who merited selection wound up choosing them all.