LOS ANGELES — The Lakers on Tuesday finished fixing multiple errors on the Kobe Bryant statue outside of Crypto.com Arena just before the team’s final home game of the regular season against the Golden State Warriors.
Among the typos/errors on the statue that were fixed: former Lakers guard Von Wafer’s name being misspelled on the box score of the marble base of the statue; former Toronto Raptors guard José Calderón’s name being misspelled on the box score; and the word “decision” in “Coach’s Decision” being misspelled.
A formatting error related to Bryant’s Olympic gold medals was also fixed on the front of the base and Bryant’s facsimile signature was recreated to read “Kobe,” rather than “Kobe 24,” since the statue shows Bryant wearing his white, No. 8 Lakers uniform.
German basketball journalist André Voigt shared photos of the errors on March 11 on X (formerly known as Twitter), with the post going viral. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin first reported that the errors were fixed Tuesday morning.
The name of the statue’s sculptor, Julie Rotblatt Amrany, was also added to the base.
The Lakers unveiled the 19-foot, 4,000-pound statue of the late superstar on Feb. 8.
Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, said during the dedication ceremony last month that the statue, which depicts Kobe in his No. 8 jersey with his right index finger raised as he walked off the court following his 81-point performance in a victory over the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, is the first of three that will be created to honor the five-time NBA champion, who retired in 2016.
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Another statue will feature Bryant in his No. 24 jersey, which he wore for the second half of his career, while a third will depict Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, who died with him and seven others in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, in Calabasas. The planned locations and unveiling dates for the other two statues have yet to be announced.
