Kobe Bryant was a proud daughter of four girls: Natalia, 17, Gianna, 13, Bianka, 3 and Capri, 7 months, but there was one thing he and his middle daughter had in common – a love for basketball. Kobe, 41, and Gianna both perished on Sunday in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., on their way to a basketball tournament at Kobe’s Mamba Academy.
Kobe coached his teenage daughter’s basketball team at the Thousand Oaks sports academy that he founded in order to improve athletes’ overall game and mental strength.
He told Access Hollywood in one of his final interviews that he loved being able to spend more time with his daughters, after a 20-year playing with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I control my own schedule. I can coach my daughter. I can be present at all of my eldest daughter’s volleyball games. Drop them off in the morning. I pick them up in the afternoon. So zero. I have no inclination. I have no desire to play basketball,” Kobe shared when Access Hollywood asked if he’d ever return to the game that made him famous.
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Kobe confessed he was truly content watching his daughters enjoy their own success. His eldest daughter, Natalia, was an avid volleyball player and he regularly shared photos of her matches on his Instagram account.
But it was his daughter, Gianna, who followed in her dad’s footsteps. Kobe revealed in an interview that Gianna picked up basketball a couple of years ago, and after making a local all-star team, really got into the sport. Gianna was often sitting courtside with her dad at games, the pair smiling and laughing, and Kobe often sharing his tips with his daughter.
“It’s fun to sit there and watch her hoop,” Kobe shared in an interview obtained by CNN.
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Gianna wasn’t shy about her success on the court either, and he revealed that when people often asked if he wished he had a son to carry on his legacy, his daughter had a whipsmart response.
In an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in 2018, he told Kimmel, “The best thing that happens is when we go out and fans would come up to me and she’ll be standing next to me,” Kobe said, “and they’ll be like, ‘You’ve gotta have a boy, you and V gotta have a boy. You gotta have somebody to carry on your tradition, the legacy.”
“She’s like, ‘Oy, I got this,” Kobe said. “I’m like that’s right,” Kobe said. “Yes, you do, you got this.”
Kobe’s legacy will live on through his other three daughters. Rest in peace Kobe and Gianna.
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Kobe Bryant And Gianna Bryant: A Look Back At Their Lives
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