- Kobe and Gianna Bryant were killed on Jan. 26, 2020
- Their lives and legacies continue to make an impact on sports five years later
- Earlier this week, Vanessa Bryant announced the upcoming release of a catalogue of over 100 murals and the stories that honor Kobe and Gianna’s lasting impact
The sports and entertainment worlds are remembering and celebrating the lives of Kobe and Gianna Bryant on the fifth anniversary of their tragic deaths.
Five years after Kobe and 13-year-old Gianna died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020 in California, the beloved basketball star and his daughter continue to inspire fans all over the world.
Survived by his wife Vanessa and daughters Natalia, Bianka and Capri, Kobe’s contribution to basketball is immeasurable. Beyond the five NBA championships he won for the Los Angeles Lakers, the greatest athletes of all sports continue to live by his “Mamba Mentality” mindset.
Kobe’s basketball career began at Lower Merion High School. He decided to enter the NBA straight out of 12th grade and was the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, by the Charlotte Hornets, who traded his draft rights to the Los Angeles Lakers in a prior agreement.
In Los Angeles, he’d team up with center Shaquille O’Neal. While Kobe and O’Neal would certainly have success (they won four championships for the Lakers together), their relationship would soon turn into a rivalry.
At just 18 years, 2 months and 11 days old, he became the youngest person to ever play in an NBA game when he played in 1996. And by 1998, he was the youngest starter ever in an NBA All-Star Game.
An 18-time All-Star, Kobe helped lead the Lakers to five NBA titles: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010.
In 1999, a 21-year-old Bryant met 17-year-old Vanessa Laine. when he was a starting player on the Los Angeles Lakers — while Vanessa was a high school senior from southern California.
“It was love at first sight,” Vanessa said in a 2020 Instagram post.
“For me, it was very different to have somebody that I was so close to, because I had been so used to growing up in isolation, really,” Kobe said about the early days of their relationship in the 2015 Showtime documentary Kobe Bryant’s Muse.
The two became engaged six months later and married on April 18, 2001, in Dana Point, California.
In 2003, they welcomed their first child, daughter Natalia, followed by Gianna in 2006.
Vanessa and Kobe welcomed their third child — daughter Bianka Bella — on Dec. 5, 2016 and their youngest, Capri Kobe, was born on June 20, 2019.
“She has been our best baby,” he joked to Extra about their youngest in September 2019. “She sleeps like six hours. She’s an absolute sweetheart.”
From a young age, Gianna — who was lovingly known as Gigi — wanted to follow her dad’s footsteps into basketball. Kobe even coached his daughter’s team at his Mamba Sports Academy and supported her dreams of joining the WNBA.
“[Gianna]’s pretty fierce. She loves playing, she loves shooting,” the basketball legend told Extra in July 2017.
Gianna and her father continued to share a love of the game and his mini-me was quickly on her way to carving out her own path in basketball.
At the time of the fatal crash, Gianna and Kobe were traveling to a youth basketball game with parents and players from the Mamba Sports Academy girls’ team, where Gianna wore a No. 2 jersey.
In 2020, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert named Gianna — as well as her teammates Payton Chester and Alyssa Altobelli who also died in the crash — an honorary pick during the 2020 WNBA Draft.
Athletes like LeBron James, Candace Parker and Sydney Leroux have paid tribute to Gianna’s life and legacy.
Kobe and Gianna were laid to rest together on Feb. 7, 2020, at Pacific View Memorial Park and Mortuary in Corona Del Mar, California. A touching public memorial service was held on Feb. 24, 2020, at Staples Center that was attended by famous friends like Beyoncé, Michael Jordan, Christina Aguilera, Shaquille O’Neal and more.
In the days leading up to the fifth anniversary of the accident, PEOPLE announced that Vanessa is set to publish Mamba & Mambacita Forever, a catalogue of over 100 murals and the stories that honor Kobe and Gianna’s lasting impact.
A variety of memorials went up all over the world, including candlelit vigils, sculptures and public murals, recognizing Kobe and Gianna’s contributions to the world of basketball.
Mamba & Mambacita Forever — which will be released on Aug. 19 to mark Kobe Bryant Day several days later — “brings together the images and stories” of the public art installations that honored the Byrants, per a press release shared with PEOPLE.
“Taken together, what emerges is the story of a man who became even more than he himself could have imagined, an avatar of determination, discipline and competitiveness. He was also a worldwide icon, one of the greatest athletes of our time, a man committed to his family and to fatherhood,” the release continues.
